UNITED NATIONS,
November 21 – On November 20,
the US Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
issued an indictment against
former Senegal foreign
minister Cheikh Gadio and NGO
head Patrick Ho that 2014-15
UN President of the General
Assembly Sam Kutesa took
bribes for oil concessions in
Uganda. Kutesa's predecessor
John Ashe died under
indictment; the depths of the
UN's corruption extend into
2017 with the signing of
dubious rosewood
export certificates in Nigeria
and set-aside
UN employment for the German
Ambassador's wife. The Kutesa
scam began in long meetings in
the UN PGA's office on the
UN's second floor - where the
UN now requires investigative
Inner City Press to have a
minder, unlike other
correspondents - between
Kutesa and China-based NGO
China Energy Fund Committee
led by Patrick C.P. Ho. The
scheme involved Kutesa naming
Ho a "Special Adviser to the
PGA," and hosting an NGO
meeting in the UN in April
2015. Kutesa traveled as PGA
to China as part of the
scheme. Ho's approach was
through Kutesa's chief of
staff Arthur Kafeero, whom as
Inner City Press exclusively
reported in August 2015 Kutesa
tried to plant in the UN's
Department of Political
Affairs. See Inner City Press
scoop here;
note that the UN evicted Inner
City Press for its corruption
coverage in early 2016 and has
kept it restricted since, even
as UN corruption continues,
even grows. And what do the
member states do? On November
20 Inner City Press asked UK
Permanent Representative
Matthew Rycroft about the
scandal and he said, "I'll
look into that and get back to
you." Video here.
And in the afternoon, his
spokesman Matthew Moody did:
"Matthew, Regarding your
question this morning on the
allegations against the former
Foreign Minister of Senegal
and the Ugandan Foreign
Minister, we refer you to the
press release from the US
Department of Justice below.
We cannot comment further on
an ongoing US criminal
prosecution. On the issue of
corruption, the UK is
committed to fulfilling
Sustainable Development Goal
16, which includes a target to
'substantially reduce
corruption and bribery in all
their forms.' Regards, Matt
Moody, Spokesperson and Head
of Communications,
UK Mission to the United
Nations." 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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