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By Matthew Russell Lee, Video, Q&A, HK here

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 – Eight months after the UN bribery conviction of Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, on March 30 the prosecution asked for a jail term of over six years and a $2 million fine. Today on May 11 Ng is sent to be sentenced, the day after Judge Vernon Broderick denied Ng's request for a new trial and for an investigation of alleged perjury by former South South News chief Francis Lorenzo (who was seen on First Avenue by the UN just days ago). Broderick filed it under seal: "On September 26, 2017, Defendant Ng Lap Seng (“Defendant” or “Ng”) filed a motion for a new trial under Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. (Doc. 653.) Ng also requested that I direct the Government to conduct an independent investigation into Defendant Francis Lorenzo’s (“Lorenzo”) alleged perjury during trial, or in the alternative, to permit Ng to issue a defense subpoena under Rule 17 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. (Id.) Ng has not established a basis for a new trial or for me to direct the Government to conduct an investigation into Lorenzo’s alleged perjury or authorize a defense subpoena. Accordingly, Ng’s
motion is DENIED. An Opinion and Order explaining my decision has been filed under seal because it relies
upon material that has been filed under seal. A copy has also been sent to counsel by email. By May 16, 2018, the parties shall provide the Court with proposed redactions to the Opinion and Order, if any. I will consider the parties’ proposed redactions and will file a redacted version of the Opinion and Order on the public docket." Meanwhile, until the last day Ng has been requesting visits to his apartment on 47th Street by, most recently, his god-son. (In the second UN bribery case, Patrick Ho is still in jail pending trial.) The March 30 filing stated that "The defendant, a sophisticated, international businessman, repeatedly used his wealth and power to seek to corrupt decision-making at the United Nations. That was a choice. It warrants substantial and meaningful punishment. The defendant could have sought to persuade the UN and the UN Development Programme (“UNDP”) to support his latest project—a massive real estate development on a manmade island off the coast of Macau, China, including a conference center, luxury hotel, residential apartments, and a high-end shopping mall with brands such as Gucci, to be built by
the defendant’s company—on its purported merits. But the merits of such a project are, at the very least, highly debatable. Building luxury hotels, apartments, and retail outlets may be profitable, but UNDP’s mission is the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequality through sustainable, environmentally responsible development. However, whether the UN or UNDP would have approved of and supported the defendant’s project, or a portion thereof, on the merits is a question to which one cannot know the answer. Because instead of seeking approval and support on the merits, the defendant cheated. Hiding behind and misusing a nongovernmental organization that he founded and funded allegedly to help developing nations rather than himself, the defendant orchestrated and led a scheme to pay bribes to two senior UN ambassadors, one of whom was the elected leader of the UN General Assembly." Note that the next PGA, Sam Kutesa, was allegedly bribed by Patrick Ho of the China Energy Fund Committee, which is STILL in UN ECOSOC. In the UN, Ng's South South News paid money to the UN Correspondents Association, got a photo op with the Secretary General, and remained in long after Inner City Press was evicted for pursuing the story in the UN Press Briefing Room. In fact, South South News people still work in the UN.

Ng's assistant Jeffrey Yin on February 28 was sentenced to seven months in prison. During the two hour sentencing argument, repeated reference was made to Yin's role in wiring money from Ng's Chinese bank to Terra Trading in Francis Lorenzo's Dominican Republic. As Inner City Press reported, El Salvador's Ambassador Carlos Garcia wrote a letter supporting the now clearly corruption transfer - and yet he is still involved in UN "Sustainable Development Goals" circles. Yet the UN is apparently not even monitoring the case and sentencing(s). On March 1 Inner City Press asked Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: Yesterday in the Southern District Federal Court, the aide, Jeffrey Yin, to Ng Lap Seng, which was convicted of UN bribery, was sentenced to seven months in prison, and it was a long, two-hour sentencing argument in which a lot of information came out about the UN.  I wanted to know whether the UN had anyone monitoring that, to ensure that those involved at the UN are held accountable, interviewed? Spokesman:  It's not a question I'm able to answer right now." Why not? According to the narrative of Yin's lawyer Sabrina Shroff, Yin only went to work for Ng's son in order to be closer to his own father, incarcerated by the Chinese government. Ng "poached" Yin from his son, and ordered him to arrange the wire transfers, and pay $20,000 in cash in a bag in Manhattan. As exposed in the Southern District of New York, the UN is a place that can be bought, and cheap - and then evicts and restricts the Press which covers it. See 9 minute video, in front of the courthouse before and after the sentencing here. Prosecutor Daniel Richenthal appeared understandably frustrated with Judge Vernon Broderick backtracking even on his sentencing to prison, after he already let Ng Lap Seng remain on house arrest even after conviction. More follow up at the UNreformed UN is needed. Inner City Press, which covered the Ng UN bribery scandal, got evicted from the UN for its troubles and is still restricted, asked long time UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Yin, Ng and the case on February 28: has ANYONE in the UN system been held accountable? Dujarric replied that those guilty of a crime were found guilty in court. But that is because of the UN's immunity, which it uses even now on sexual harassment charges in India, as it did for bringing cholera to Haiti. If anything, the UN is becoming more corrupt (see the Patrick Ho / CEFC case, below), and more willing to engage in targeted censorship of the investigative Press. As to Ng, his request for a meeting with consular officials of the People's Republic of China was largely granted. Even post-conviction, Ng is living in a luxury apartment a block from the UN, where he's received massages four to ten hours a day. The "Guidepost" guards he pays at first let him close the door and ate the masseuse's cooking; now the judge has said the door should be open. And this October 25 order, granting Ng's "request to meet with Mr. Yang Zerui and Mr. Ma Chao in the presence of Defendant’s bilingual counsel, Ms. Xue Huang, is APPROVED, insofar as Mr. Yang Zerui and Mr. Ma Chao are appropriately accredited consular officers from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China. To the extent there is a question concerning whether or not Mr. Yang Zerui and/or Mr. Ma Chao are appropriately accredited consular officers from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, prior to such meeting, Defendant’s counsel must obtain and provide to the Government written confirmation from the United States Department of State or other appropriate authority of the consular credentials of Mr. Yang and Mr. Ma.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant’s counsel must report any untoward discussions to the Court and report anything related to a possible violation of bail to the Court, the government and the Guidepost security team. " Right. A stated reason for the consular visit is to discussion the conditions of his detention, as well as "possible legal and diplomatic issues
raised in the case related to China." Meanwhile Inner City Press, which covered the trial (and was evicted from and remains restricted in the UN for pursuing still unacted on UN aspects of the bribery) has replied to the Freedom of Information Act response seeking to hinder its and the public's access to additional UN-related documents. Yet there is obstruction and delay at every turn in getting UN-related documents about this bribery case. Why? We'll have more on this. How corrupt and UNresponsive is the UN? Days after the indictment of UN President of the General Assembly John Ashe and Ng Lap Seng, Bangladesh's then-Ambassador Abdul Monem fled the US. As Inner City Press reported, Monem was involved in the scandal. He not only attended Ng's Macau event in August 2015 - after that, on September 6, 2015, Monem "urgently" emailed Francis Lorenzo who has pleaded guilty to ask how to insert the Macau "outcome" into a GA resolution. So he fled the US. And yet on September 28, 2017, as photographed by still-restricted Inner City Press, Abdul Monem was back in the UN, in the Security Council no less, for the open meeting on the Rohingya of Myanmar. On the morning of October 2, Inner City Press asked the UN's top three spokespeople, in writing: "In the recent UNSC open meeting on Myanmar, former Bangladesh Ambassador Abdul Monem, who left the US within days of the indictment of Ashe, Ng and Francis Lorenzo, reappeared. Given what came out during the Ng Lap Seng prosecution, please state whether this former Permanent Representative kept his UN ID badge to access UNHQ or was newly credentialed, and separately what follow up the UN (OLA or OIOS) is making on what was exposed during the Ng Lap Seng prosecution. Requesting all answers by email, on deadline. Please confirm receipt." No answer. In the new / next UN bribery case, indictee Patrick Ho was denied bail on February 5, in a lengthy oral order that found the weight of evidence against him substantial. On November 20, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued an indictment against the head of the UN ECOSOC accredited China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC) Patrick Ho and former Senegal foreign minister Cheikh Gadio, accused together of bribing Chad's President Idriss Deby -- as well as, for Ho, of bribing former UN President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa, now as then the foreign minister of Uganda, since 2005, allegedly for the benefit of President Yoweri Museveni. On February 5, Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesman why CEFC is still in "special consultative status" with ECOSOC, transcript here (video here) and below, than ran to the courthouse. There, US District Court Judge Katherine Forrest asked Prosecutor Daniel C. Richenthal to describe the weight of the evidence. "How strong is your case?" she asked, to some laughter. Very strong, he said, adding that Ho has been emailing the "Shanghai-based Energy Company" (that would be CEFC China Energy) from MCC detention, to launch a public relations campaign. It may be backfiring: Judge Forrest in her ruling denying bail noted that if Chinese government press is describing the case as political, it would make fleeing and remaining in China all the easier. Richenthal said that Ho could travel to other places - he listed Chad, Uganda, Iran and Russia. The continued home detention of UN bribery convictee was raised by Richenthal and Judge Forrest, and not favorably. Gadio was alluded to as not yet indicted - he'd said to be talking about a plea - and Judge Forrest emphasized November 5 as the trial date. She said there was leave to re-apply for bail but said such an application should include what Ho's lawyer Mr Kim called the "context" of the payments. Kim said they including country-wide charitable and military aid. From a Chinese energy company? From the UN's February 5 transcript: Inner City Press: Patrick Ho, who is the head of the China Energy Fund Committee, is arguing again for bail today.  And the US, in opposing it, put it in writing that they've executed a search warrant at China Energy Fund Committee, the NGO's (non-governmental organization) offices in Virginia.  It seems the China Energy Fund Committee is still in special consultative status with ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) even as its offices are being raided and… and its head is in jail.  What are the procedures for… for…? Spokesman:  As far as I'm aware… you know, the consultative status of ECOSOC, as opposed to the DPI (Department of Public Information) status, is one that is managed by the Member States.  There is a committee of ECOSOC that is made up of Member States.  They give… they grant or deny consultative status to various NGOs.  I think we'll have to look… you can contact ECOSOC to see what the exact rules are, but my assumption would be that, if Member States grant, only Member States can take away." So, Guterres is doing nothing. On February 6, after another non-response by ECOSOC's chair, Inner City Press asked Guterres' and Dujarric's Deputy Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:  yesterday, the… Patrick Ho, the head of the China Energy Fund Committee here, was denied bail.  And in the… in the hearing, basically, the prosecution said and the judge said that she found weight to be given to the evidence that basically the NGO [non-governmental organization] was a front for bribery to Sam Kutesa and others.  So, given that… how this trial is going, I'm wondering, again, Stéphane [Dujarric] had said that the Secretariat plays no role in sort of following through and making sure that China Energy Fund Committee can't continue to say it's a… in special consultative status with ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council].  I've written to the ECOSOC chair now twice, 28 November 2017 and today, but I don't have anything back.  Is there any spokesperson for ECOSOC that can at least say what the process is? Deputy Spokesman:  There is a spokesperson for the President of the Economic and Social [Council], and I can give you that contact afterwards. Inner City Press: Because… because Brenden… oh.  Yeah.  Anyways, I'd written before to that same individual, and there was no response.  I'm just… guess I'm wondering, what is their… what is the… does the Secretary-General… given that trial that's now moving forward and what's coming out in it, does he believe in the same way that he has… asserting himself as to agencies on other issues, that he should maybe get involved to ensure that there's not a… a named briber saying that they're in consultative status with the UN? Deputy Spokesman:  "Well, UN bodies themselves have been dealing with the problems created by the China Energy Fund Committee in their own ways, but what you're talking about is consultative status that's granted by Member States through the Economic and Social Council, and that decision would have to be taken by Member States." Then Inner City Press emailed the alluded to spokesman, one Paul Simon. Hours later, nothing. In advance of the February 5, the prosecution in writing asserted that "since the Complaint was signed and Ho was arrested, the evidence of his guilt has only become stronger, as the Government has interviewed witnesses, executed search warrants (including for the Virginia office of the Energy NGO), and obtained documents from third parties." Tellingly, this Energy NGO, China Energy Fund Committee, is *still* in special consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council - and Guterres met with Uganda's Museveni, who is in the complaint, at the same AU summit where Guterres met Sudan's Omar al Bashir, without issuing any read-out. The prosecution's letter cites 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 (who is the Ugandan Foreign Minister’s relative), with gifts and promises of future benefits, including offering to let both officials share in the profits of a potential joint venture in Uganda involving the Energy Company and the officials’ family businesses." On January 27, after belatedly dropping CEFC from the UN Global Compact, Guterres in Addis Ababa met Museveni, with Kutesa himself in Addis as well. Museveni tweeted a photo and read out -- "Met UN Secretary General @antonioguterres on the sidelines of the 30th AU Ordinary Summit in Addis Ababa. We discussed regional peace, UN reforms and support for refugees." Meanwhile, consistent his declining transparency, Guterres did not issue any read out. Did the UN bribery scandal come up? Or get further covered up? As Inner City Press pursues this story and others, Guterres and his "Global Communicator" Alison Smale, seen January 26 in South Carolina praising a Chinese airline while mis-allocating funds meant for Kiswahili radio, keep Inner City Press more restricted in the UN than no-show state media. This is censorship for corruption.

Inner City Press has covered the Ho / Gadio, Kutesa / Museveni case and repeatedly asked the UN Spokesman why Secretary General Antonio Guterres has not even started an audit based on the indictment, including of how CEFC got its UN status and even remains in the UN Global Compact espousing anti-corruption goals. On January 16, Inner City Press put the question directly to Antonio Guterres, video here, UN transcript here.

  We'll have more on this.

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