UN
Aided
Ng Lap Seng After
His Positive Coverage of Ban
Trip, Spox Says Ban
UNaware
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
August 21 – How far will the UN
go to get positive media
coverage, and to punish and
hinder, if still not prevent,
critical oversight? Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's 2015 to
Honduras and El Salvador was
given entirely positive coverage
by South South News, the
$300,000 a month bribery conduit
of now convicted
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap
Seng. Click here
for that coverage, still online.
Now in emails obtained and published
by Inner City Press, it is shown
that South South News president
Francis Lorenzo, who has pleaded
guilty, wrote to UN official
Yiping Zhou about the coverage:
“Dear yiping enclose [sic]
see the first report of our
coverage of the trip of the SG
to El Salvador.”
Zhou wrote back, “Great job
covering the SG's visit. We
should do more for the SG, and
other heads of UN organs
especially also for our
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark.
Please find my letter of
support” - a letter supporting
Ng's now-disgraced, never-built
Macau conference Center.
So the UN supported Ng's corrupt
plan, in response to positive
coverage of Ban Ki-moon by Ng's
South South News. On August 21,
Inner City Press asked Ban's,
now Antonio Guterres', spokesman
Stephane Dujarric: UN Transcript
here:
Inner City Press: in the Ng
Lap Seng trial, one of the
exhibits that was used that’s
since been released and
published, has Mr. Yiping Zhu,
who I understand has left the
system, writing to Francis
Lorenzo, saying “great coverage
of the Secretary-General’s
visit” — this was a visit to
Honduras and El Salvador in 2015
— “we should do more for the SG
and other heads of UN organs,
especially for our UNDP
administrator Helen Clark.
Please find my letter of
support.” And attached to
that was a letter of support for
the Macau Convention Centre.
So, just on its face, it looks
like a quid pro quo. Thank
you for positive coverage by
South-South News of the trip,
and here’s a support for a now
highly dubious discredited
convention centre. Is… are
you comfortable with this, with
this…
Spokesman: Listen, I
haven’t seen the letter.
What is clear is that Mr. Yiping
Zhu no longer worked for this
organisation, and Mr. Lorenzo
never has. [Note: Lorenzo
has a un.org email address.]
Inner
City
Press: Right,
but he was the
representative. He was
the…
[inaudible]
Spokesman: I just…
Inner
City Press:
…envoy of the Secretary-General.
[inaudible]
Spokesman: I’m saying he’s
no longer…
Inner City Press: So, can you
say whether Ban Ki-moon had any…
Spokesman: No. Ban
Ki-moon had no knowledge of any
of this, those activities.
How does he know? Zhou
was Ban Ki-moon's personal Envoy
on South South Cooperation. And
like Zhou's letter for Ng's
project, Ban wrote a "personal 'Thank You'
note" to South South News Afaf
Konja "for her coverage of his
official visit, calling her a
'champion for South-South
Cooperation.'"
These names came up repeatedly
during the Ng Lap Seng
prosecution, begun by then-US
Attorney Preet Bharara with the
question, Is bribery business as
usual at the UN? The answer was
and is,
Yes.
And when Inner City Press
pursued the Ng Lap Seng bribery
scandal, seeking to cover a
meeting of the UN Correspondents
Association who took full page
ads from Ng' South South News
and provided the venue for Ng's
photo op with Ban (Cipriani 42nd
Street), Inner City Press
was evicted from the UN Press
Briefing Room, then its long
time office in the UN, where it
still remains restricted under
Ban's successor Antonio
Guterres.
On August 16, Inner City Press
asked Guterres about the Ng
guilty verdicts; Guterres declined
to answer. The UN still contains
corruption, and still punishes
and restricts the Press which
covers it.
Beyond the corruption, it is a
conflict of interest to have the
same UN Department which views
its role as promoting positive
coverage of the UN be the one to
decide, without rules or free
press constraints, which media
get full access, and which like
Inner City Press are evicted and
restricted.
The incoming head of the UN
Department of Public Information
Alison Smale, replacing Cristina
Gallach who partied at Ng's
South South Awards and did no
due diligence on his events and
sponsorships in the UN, will
have to deal with this. We'll
have more on this.
***
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