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By Matthew Russell Lee & sources, Exclusive

UN GATE, May 20 – UNESCO, like the whole UN system under Antonio Guterres is falling apart into abuse of power and corruption. A recent affair brought to the fore, is providing another example of the endless disgraceful sinking of UNESCO under the French administration.

In order to please President Macron and his entourage, a scandalous figure, Alexandre Benalla, was helped by DG Azoulay's team to eventually obtain a diplomatic cover.

[Inner City Press has previously reported on Benalla, for example when he met with French supported dictator Paul Biya of Cameroon here]

Benalla is still the intimate confidant of Emmanuel Macron and served as his security officer and deputy chief of staff after his election to the French presidency. The ‘Benalla affair’ started in France in 2018 and encompassed political and judicial cases involving the Macron favorite man.

On the first affair, the French newspaper Le Monde revealed him on 18 July 2018 in footage as the person who beat up a young protester while pretending to be a police officer.

 On July 20, the French presidential administration announced that Benalla would be dismissed with immediate effect for that gross misconduct. On the second affair, it was divulged that at the end of 2018 Benalla was still in possession of at least two diplomatic passports despite being fired for several months.

On the third affair, it was disclosed that Benalla had contracted financial ties with two Russian oligarchs during his tenure in the Macron administration, including Iskander Makhmudov.

Both the French National Assembly and Senate launched parliamentary inquiries into the affairs. Furthermore, this month, the Paris Prosecutor's office has requested a criminal trial for "forgery", "use of forgery" and "improper use" of professional documents against Alexandre Benalla, in the investigation of his diplomatic passports.

The prosecution accuses Alexandre Benalla of illegal use of two diplomatic passports and to have produced a forgery to obtain a passport of service. The Paris Prosecutor's office has also requested that Benalla be kept under judicial supervision.

 Despite the fact that Alexandre Benalla will be tried next September for violence and fraudulent use of diplomatic passports, UNESCO’s DG Azoulay secretly supported his attempt to get into the UNESCO diplomatic circles. Accordingly, three weeks ago, Mr. Benalla who is placed under judicial supervision, was authorized to enter the UNESCO building and a meeting with the Delegate of Palau, Sanya-El-Kadi – who, by the way, is close to Nicolas Kassianides, the head of Azoulay's cabinet -, was organized for him.

The alleged purpose of this meeting was to negotiate a diplomatic cover that could be arranged for Benalla in order to facilitate his travel and business abroad. Influence peddling is underway, as Palau's own Delegate seeks a high-level position at UNESCO.

In the 1980s, Palau was the focal point of Reagan administration efforts to find alternative sites for U.S. military bases. At that time, Palau was ravaged by kickbacks, fire-bombings, heroin trafficking, fake passports and bungled trials. Some things have improved over the years, others have not. So, is ‘fake passports’ still an issue there and what is Benalla prosecuted for in France? Forged passports. It seems that Palau was the preferred option of Azoulay's cabinet to bargain the fake diplomatic cover for Benalla.  Unfortunately for their plans, this visit by Benalla to UNESCO's premises was leaked to the press.

The leak created a huge stir on the sixth floor of UNESCO, where DG Azoulay's office is located. As a result, an investigation was launched by the head of security Nicolas Hergot assisted by the ADG for Administration Nicholas Jeffreys. Security personnel were put under considerable stress over the last few days, through police-style interrogations and pressure to confess the leak (mental but no physical torture at this stage), as if they were criminals spoiling the mood and the opportunity of Macron's friend. The maneuver was deemed deplorable by representatives of the staff association ISAU. 

The former French Police Commissaire Nicolas Hergot, who is now heading the security service of UNESCO, proved to be totally unsuccessful in chasing the inhouse sources that exposed the sexual performance-based promotion affair of Kassianides and his mistress. Now it is mandatory for him to deliver if he wants to keep his job, as there will be no third chance. Nicolas Hergot publicly vowed to transform the security service into a French gendarmerie style one and it was decided by DG Azoulay to support his plans by appointing in 2021 at least five additional French Policemen and Gendarmes. This is clearly a case study of how the French DG imposes a French modus operandi on UNESCO.As put by one of his colleagues:

“Nicolas Hergot, being a pure product of the French Police system will hardly be able to adapt his French Policeman style to the international environment of UNESCO. His appointment was a mistake. He is destroying our service”.   However, this is not the end of the Benalla affair. The reason the investigation is being launched so quickly and the Azoulay administration is paying so much attention to it, is because President Macron may be unhappy with Azoulay's treatment of his ‘protégé’.

In addition, this case could become an issue for him in the presidential race with elections looming in less than a year. UNESCO is once again being dragged into politicization by the French. This is how UNESCO is becoming Frenchesco at all levels and this is what the agency is for these days, when it is certainly not in its mandate to improve the problematic situation of Macron's cronies. Member states should stop tolerating its total mismanagement. Otherwise, the French will continue to play their dirty tricks on the backs of UNESCO taxpayers.

 We will have more on that. Watch this site.

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