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Japan Gets UN Financial Post, Pays for UNDP-Backed
Cambodia Court
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
August 13 -- What is it about the
UN, money and Japan? After months of
reports of financial improprieties at the UN-based Cambodia Tribunal,
overseen
by the UN Development Program, this week it was reported
that Japan has stepped
in to pay salaries until the scandal passes. At the UN noon
briefing on
Wednesday, Inner City Press asked Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq about
the
scandal, and to confirm that Japan will be paying. Haq
said to ask UNDP, so
Inner City Press did, including asking about the replacement of the
court's
chief of personnel. UNDP's answer, which arrived at 10 p.m. on
Wednesday, was
that
"Keo
Thyvuth was the Chief of
Personnel on the Cambodian side of the Court. We understand from
press
reports and statements from the national side of the Court that he has
been
replaced. I would suggest contacting the Cambodian authorities for more
details
on the circumstances of regarding his replacement. As for the
Japanese
funding, it is a bilateral issue between Tokyo and the Cambodian
government.
Again, I would suggest contacting the Japanese and Cambodian missions."
But what are the
allegations of impropriety
that UNDP has been alluding to but not explaining?
Go ask someone else, both UNDP and Haq
answered. Haq did however announce that Jun Yamazaki, previously of
Japan's
Foreign Ministry, is taking over at the UN's Controller. He succeeds
Warren
Sach, who is being shifted over to head the whittled down Central
Support
Services. Computer services has been shifted about from CSS, as has
Facilities
Management, put under Michael Adlerstein's Capital Master Plan. One wag
said
Sach is now in charge of only the postal administration and the UN
cafeteria,
and called him Mister Coffee. We shall see.
Not to say, we told you so
-- but we told you so. Back on May
29, Inner City Press reported that
"Warren
Sach, ever a senior
UN official he, will transition to the Assistant Secretary General post
previously held by Andrew Toh, and that replacing him as Controller
will be a
nominee from Japan. Germany got Management, with the departure of
Alicia
Barcena (at whose farewell reception Thursday Mr. Kim Won-soo spoke for
Ban). So
in this scenario, Japan would get another ASG job, along with their USG
Kiyotaka Akasaka taking on a new post of multi-lingualism."
At the time, Sach said, "I
read these things about myself." Yep...
Kiyotaka Akasaka read the writing on the wall, answer on immunity not
shown
Another
Japan - UN scandal rose
in the English language press on Wednesday, of
Japanese Under Secretary General Kiyotaka Akasaka being sued by the
previous head of
the UN Information Center in Toyko. Inner City Press covered the
controversy at
the Tokyo UNIC -- yes, eunuch -- months ago,
asking why only the Japanese press was briefed. But now the previous
head is suing
Akasaka for $90,000. Akasaka, fresh from attending International
Youth Day in the Robert Moses Playground, declined comment. UN
Spokesman Haq also declined to comment on the case, or whether immunity
would be invoked. "I am not going to say anything from this stand. That would be prejudicial.
So I have no comment on any of the substance
of this." And so it goes at the UN.
The UN's
transcript of Wednesday's truncated briefing by the Secretariat
does not
include Haq's attempt to limit questions, but instead ends
with this:
Inner City Press: In East Timor,
there was reported
today that Reinado -- the one who attacked [Jose]
Ramos-Horta -- may have been executed.
That was found in an autopsy, based on the
ballistics. So number one, given the UN’s
role in
protecting Ramos-Horta at the time, was there ever an outcome to the
UN’s
investigation into what went wrong in the protection of Ramos-Horta? And do you have any response to this new
autopsy done in East Timor?
Associate Spokesperson: I
don't have a response, we’d have to check
up. As you know, Reinado died during an
exchange of gunfire. Apparently, the
information we had at the time, which we had said, was that he died in
an
exchange of gunfire during the assassination attempt against Mr.
Ramos-Horta. I am not aware of this
latest report and will check with the Mission whether they have any
response to
that.
While we'll
await the answer, the transcript omitted Haq's attempt to limit
questions. Video here,
from Minute 13:09. But
that's the least of it: the UN's summary of Tuesday's press conference
about
UNAMID in Darfur does not even mention the questions by two journalists
about
Lockheed Martin, to which the UN gave a $250 million no-bid contract.
Can you
say, whitewash?
Watch
this
site. And this (on
South Ossetia), and
this --
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