After
UN Sold Itself to Ng, No
UN Answer on Event With
Guo Xiangang, Then 1/4 Answer
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
August 22– After the UN was
exposed as having been bought
and corrupted by Macau-based
businessman Ng Lap Seng,
convicted less than a month
ago on six counts of UN
bribery, money laundering and
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
violations, what has changed?
While the
spokesmen for new Secretary
General Antonio Guterres evade
the questions
asked by Inner City Press, for
example about the UN rewarding
Ng for his South South News'
coverage of Ban Ki-moon's
Central America trip in 2015,
murky uses of the UN and its
building, movement inside
which Inner City Press is still
restricted for its
anti-corruption coverage,
continue.
For
example, on August 23-24 the
UN General Assembly Hall will
be taken over by an NGO named
“World Development Foundation”
headed by Guo Xiangang.
Attended list and junket offer
below; voice mail after UN
refused to answer, here,
then UN Spokesman's
one-quarter answer, below.
Inner City Press first
reported on this group in May
2016, noting that the UN
Department of Public
Information was partnering
with a group that at that time
did not even have a website.
This came after DPI's
then-chief Cristina Gallach
did no
due diligence of Ng Lap
Seng's purchase of events in
the UN lobby and even its
slavery memorial, then evicted
Inner City Press after it asked her about her links
to Ng's South South Awards.
The UN's holdover Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has been
involved, including in both
the eviction and continuing
restrictions. On August 22,
Inner City Press asked and
e-mailed Dujarric about the
August 22-24 event. Video here; UN transcript here: Inner
City Press: there's an event
this week in the General
Assembly, and some of the
sponsors are those who
attended the Macau event
sponsored and paid for by Ng
Lap Seng in August 2015 just
before he was indicted and
arrested. So, I wanted
to know — maybe you can find
this out today — it's said
that it's going to be webcast.
Spokesman: What's the
event? I don't, what's
the event?
Inner City Press: The
event has to do with
sustainable tourism.
It's sponsored by an NGO and
two Member States, both of
whom went to Macau. So,
my question to you is, you've
said the things have radically
cleaned up…What's the UN's
role in the event… Who's
paying for the-
Spokesman: I need… drop
me off a piece of paper with
information about the event
and I will…
Inner City Press: I'm going to
give you the email as well,
the one about…
Spokesman: Perfect.
Inner City Press: …Yiping Zhou
and the one that you said you
hadn't seen.
Spokesman: Okay, thank
you.
Inner City
Press immediately sent
Dujarric as well as his top
two deputies the Yiping Zhou
email and some questions. Five
hours later when he left,
Dujarric had not answered nor
even, as requested, confirmed
receipt. After 8 pm one of the
sponsors called Inner City
Press, audio here.
But the answer should come
from the UN Secretariat, which
had been asked eight hours
previously. Inner City Press
called the caller how to ask
Dujarric, and Dujarric did
respond to this NGO, emailing
Inner City Press: "Dear
Matthew, The event is
sponsored that the Mission of
Suriname. They are responsible
for the content of the event
and we have been assured that
no one is being charged for
this event. Sincerely, Steph."
But this didn't answer the
questions that Inner City
Press had asked (while showing
that Dujarric had received
them - we'll have more on
this). Inner City Press had
sent Dujarric the information
about the event: "Sustainable
Tourism development projects
from other Member States will
also be introduced. Special
Guests Include: Mr. Carlos
Vogeler, UN World Tourism
Organization, Executive
Director and Regional Director
for the Americas; Ms. Shavani
Vora, NY Times Travel
Columnist, Invited' Ms.
Alexandrine Wan, Sustainable
Tourism Advocate, Entrepreneur
H.E. Ambassador Loreen
Bannis-Roberts, Permanent
Representative, Dominica
Mission to the United Nations;
Peter Claesson, Indigo Travel,
Sweden; Neelam Melanie, Second
Secretary, Kingdom of
Netherlands Mission to the
United Nations; Robert Watson,
Noted Author and Tourism
Strategist; Amir Dossal,
President and Founder, Global
Partnerships Forum; Peter
Tichnsky, President and CEO,
Business Council for
International; Understanding;
Laura Choi, Resort-wear
Sustainable Fashion Designer,
Invited
Vincent Fuentes, Director,
WFUNA Tours
Dr. Joshua Weiss, Harvard
faculty, Abraham Path
Initiative; Suzanne Carlson,
President, Carlson Maritime
Travel; Anderson Pilgrim,
Caribbean Travel Initiatives
(CTO and CARICOM Report);
Michelle Guelbart, ECPAT
Report on Responsible Tourism;
Edward H Hall III, Bureau of
Indian Affairs Tourism
Specialist Plus a SPECIAL
FAMILIARIZATION TOUR TO GUYANA
AND SURINAME will be announced
for travel media, travel
professionals and
others. October date...
under the auspices of His
Excellency Ambassador Henry
MacDonald, Permanent Mission
of Suriname to the United
Nations and His Excellency
Michael Ten-Pow, Permanent
Mission of Guyana to the
United Nations. The program is
produced and developed by the
World Development Foundation,
Dr. Guo Xiangang, President.
Patrick Sciarratta is the
Conference Manager for the
two-day proceedings;
Conference Coordinator is
Dominique Schwenner; Ms.
Zephanii Smith is Public
Relations Liaison. Cristina
Fan is the Conference
Administrator." Ng paid for
the trip to Macau, which at
least two sponsors and the
vice president of the UN
Correspondents Association
attended. There are photos of
DPI officials with Guo
Xiangang. The cover, just as
Ng Lap Seng used the Dominican
Republic's Francis Lorenzo and
a number of other states, in
this case are Suriname and
Guyana, both of whose
Permanent Representatives
attended Ng Lap Seng's Macau
event in August 2015 and were
interviewed by South South
News, here
and here.
This week in attendance will
be the Permanent
Representative of Dominca,
whose Prime Minister Roosevelt
Skerrit was the only head of
state who went to Ng Lap
Seng's Macau event, along with
the vice president of the
United Nations Correspondents
Association.
As Inner City
Press reported and pursued,
the UN Correspondents
Association took payment from
Ng' South South News for full
page ads, then provided the
venue for Ng's and Vivian
Wang's photo op with Ban
Ki-moon. It was for seeking to
cover the UNCA event in the UN
Press Briefing Room, “lent”
without paperwork by Ban's and
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, that Inner City
Press was evicted and is still
restricted.
New DPI chief
Alison Smale will have to deal
with all this - and clean it
up. For now, this is how the
UN under Guterres remains.
Watch this site. Legal
footnote: the prosecution of
Ng Lap Seng was by Assistant
US attorneys Douglas Zolkind,
Janis Echenberg and Daniel
Richenthal of the US
Attorney’s Office, David Last,
on detail with the criminal
division fraud section's FCPA
unit, and Aashna Rao and David
Louison. There are (many)
further exhibits they are
supposed to disclose to the
Press, through spokespeople
Nicholas Biase and Dawn Dearden and
DC. We'll have more on all
this.
***
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