UNITED NATIONS,
November 20 – Former UN
General Assembly President
John Ashe, of whom Inner City
Press asked the head of UNDP
on November 20, died while
under indictment for corruption.
Video here. Later on November
20, the US Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
issued an indictment that
Ashe's successor Sam Kutesa
took bribes for oil
concessions in Uganda. From
the US Attorney: "HO caused a
$500,000 bribe to be paid, via
wires transmitted through New
York, New York, to an account
designated by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Uganda, who
had recently completed his
term as the President of the
UN General Assembly (the
“Ugandan Foreign
Minister”). HO also
provided the Ugandan Foreign
Minister, as well as the
President of Uganda, with
gifts and promises of future
benefits, including offering
to share the profits of a
potential joint venture in
Uganda involving the Energy
Company and businesses owned
by the families of the Ugandan
Foreign Minister and the
President of Uganda.
These payments and promises
were made in exchange for
assistance from the Ugandan
Foreign Minister in obtaining
business advantages for the
Energy Company, including the
potential acquisition of a
Ugandan bank." We'll have more
on this. Sam
Kutesa had offshore
accounts in the Seychelles, to
receive funds from Enhas, a
company of which despite the
UN denying
it to Inner City Press is
listed as doing business with
the UN's mission in the Congo,
MONUSCO. The accounts, but not
the UN / MONUSCO connection,
have been revealed
the leaked Appleby / Paradise
Papers. Inner City Press on
November 7 asked the spokesman
for the President of the
General Assembly about it,
yielding only an answer that
the current PGA is striving to
make public his disclosure
form but will not speak to
former (or clearly, past)
PGAs. Video here.
But how then can the UN be
said to have cleaned up after
PGA John Ashe, RIP, was
indicted for bribery? We'll
have more on this. Here's how
the PGA's spokesman summarized
the exchange: "Asked about
business dealings that were
conducted by a previous
President of the General
Assembly, the Spokesperson
said he only spoke for the
current President. Regarding
the current President, he had
been holding himself and his
office to the highest possible
levels of ethics and
transparency. The President
had submitted his financial
disclosure form ahead of the
required deadline to the
United Nations Ethics Office,
which had sent it to an
external reviewer. The
Spokesperson said that, as far
as he knew, the form was still
with the reviewer. Asked why
it was taking so long to
review the form, the
Spokesperson said that was a
question for the reviewer. For
his part, the President had
done everything that had been
asked of him." It is telling
that the new pro-UN book "A
Worldly Affair," though
copyrighted 2017, does not
even mention the 2016 UN
bribery scandal of former
President of the General
Assembly John Ashe, much less
now convicted briber Ng Lap
Seng. It does however praise
Antonio Guterres, who came in
as Secretary General in 2017,
and acknowledge Maher Nasser,
who moderated an event
promoting the book, and
shouting down the Press which
asked about Ashe and Ng. Haiti
is mentioned in connection
with Brooklyn - diplomats
living there, and "Albanians
in The Bronx." It is an
essentially elitist book, with
a sidebar o the UN's mansion
at 3 Sutton Place, bought in
1972 for Kurt Waldheim and
renovated at a cost of $4.5
million for Ban Ki-moon. It
derides the cheap construction
of Uganda House, and laughs at
the penthouse in Libya House
shown by Ali "Treiki." For
weeks the UN promoted its book
event featuring author Pamela
Hanlon.
But when Inner
City Press went and asked
about the UN having brought
cholera to Haiti and paid
nothing, and whether Haitians
in Brooklyn had been able to
get any accountability from
the UN, there was no answer.
A heckler in the
audience said loudly that the
question was not appropriate.
Video here.
So Inner City Press followed
up on Ms. Hanlon's statement
that the land under the UN is
still US territory. If so,
what of John Ashe selling
diplomatic posts from inside
his UN General Assembly
President's office, and Inner
City Press for covering the
scandal being thrown out onto
First Avenue by eight UN
Security officers? Audio here.
(NYPD told Inner City Press it
has no jurisdiction to take
criminal complaints, even for
assault, for anything east of
the First Avenue curb.)
That question wasn't answered,
either, including by Penny
Abeywardena, Commissioner of
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Office
for International Affairs.
Instead Maher
Nasser, in charge of the UN
Department of Public
Information for months this
year said “it's always about
you” and ended the event,
encouraging those present to
buy books for signing. Then on
October 20, Nasser brought
about a Kafka-esque threeat to
Inner City Press'
accreditation. And so it goes
at the UN.
***
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