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 head
of the China Energy Fund Committee
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
by Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' Deputy Amina J.
Mohammed and set-aside
UN employment for the German
Ambassador's wife, via Guterres'
chief of staff. At noon on
November 21 Inner City Press
asked Guterres spokesman Farhan
Haq about the indictment and
CEFC and its $5 million grant
program with UN DESA, transcript
here
and below. Guterres had a 5:45
pm photo op with the "Winners
of the Annual Award of the UN
Grant on Sustainable Energy" -
which seems
to have been funded by China Energy
Fund Committee, under the
heading "Powering
the Future We Want."
He "canceled," photos here,
but his Deputy Amina J.
Mohammed was still listed
giving remarks for / at the event
at 1 pm, though at 5:30 pm
those remarks were not on her
website unlike later 2:30 pm
remarks. The corruption is not
past but current. From the
UN's November 21 noon briefing
transcript:
Inner City Press: there was an
indictment yesterday by the US
Attorney for the Southern
District of New York that's
very… I would say… call it UN
related. A company
called China Energy Fund
Committee was… as alleged,
funnelled $500,000 bribes to
Sam Kutesa, former President
of the General Assembly.
The indictment describes the
meetings taking place not… on
this very floor, on the second
floor, setting up these
bribes. And so I have a
couple of questions. One
is… and these were… these…
mentioned in the indictment is
the President of Uganda,
Yoweri Museveni, who is… as
you know, is a mediator on the
Burundi file. So, I
wanted to know, number one,
after this indictment, what is
the UN's office of OIOS
[Office of Internal Oversight
Services] doing to look at
the… the… the UN persons that
may… that… implicated in
it? Two, is China Energy
Fund Committee still affil…
accredited by ECOSOC [Economic
and Social Council]? And
they seem to have a project
with DESA [Department of
Economic and Social Affairs],
a $5 million project with
DESA. And, three, what
does this mean for… for the…
Mr. [Michel] Kafando's and the
Secretary-General's view of
the Museveni role in the
Burundi mediation?
Spokesman: Well,
regarding the question of
Burundi mediation, obviously,
he has a role separate and
apart from the work of our
envoy, Michel Kafando.
You just heard a briefing from
Mr. Kafando yesterday about
what his work is on
that. Regarding Mr.
Kutesa, we don't have anything
particular to say about his
dealings as the Foreign
Minister of Uganda.
Obviously, he has served as a
General Assembly President,
and we want to make sure that
all officials of the UN,
including the General Assembly
President, abide strictly by
norms avoiding corruption and
bribery. Obviously, how
that is enforced is an issue
for the specific Member
States, so we would refer you,
in this case, to the Member
State of Uganda, which is
responsible for Mr.
Kutesa. And regarding
the CEFC that you just
mentioned, yes, they have
accreditation at ECOSOC.
We're checking with our
colleagues in the Department
of Economic and Social Affairs
about the nature of their
projects and what the status
of that is. Inner City Press:
There's a $5 million project
that's online, which I guess…
what I'm saying is, coming
after the Ng Lap Seng/John
Ashe case, it seems some sort
of consonant with it.
Basically, you have a big NGO
[non-governmental
organization] using UN access
to purchase a… if the
allegations are true, a PGA
[President of the General
Assembly]. And so, I
guess I'm wondering, from the
UN side, beyond referring to
the Ugandan mission or
whatever else, are there any
reflections, number one, on
how this process… what due
diligence did DESA do before…
before linking up with this
NGO that's clearly a
subsidiary of a Chinese oil
company that was paying bribes
in Chad, as well?
Spokesman: "Well, the
information about them paying
bribes is something that's
come out today. The
ECOSOC accreditation came out
sometime prior to all of
this. So, that's a
separate issue.
Regarding the sort of probity
we expect from officials,
including General Assembly
presidents, of course, we know
that they belong to Member
States, but we want them to
uphold the high
standards. This is
something we made clear during
John Ashe's time. This
is something we're making
clear now. And, of
course, I believe my colleague
Brenden will have more to say
about the presidency of the
General Assembly regarding
this. But, again, these
are issues that the Member
States themselves will need to
take responsibility for.
These are officials of Member
States. These are not
staff of the United Nations. "
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.
Update (no comment, cite to
SDGs, here).
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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