UN Global Compact
Mulls Explicit Pay to Play
Membership Fee, ICP Asks UN, Buck
Passing
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS,
September 27 – The UN Global
Compact, which allowed now
convicted UN briber Ng
Lap Seng's firm to join
with no due diligence, is now
moving toward more explicit
pay-to-play, imposing a
compulsory membership fee of
$10,000, disgusted UN
whistleblowers exclusively tell
Inner City Press. The initial
proposal, they say, was for
$100,000; they say the Global
Compact has run into financial
difficulties with a mere
voluntary membership fee on this
form, here.
But given the number of
companies that use UN Global
Compact membership to
"blue-wash" abusive practices,
should the blue-wash be so
explicitly put up for sale under
2017 Secretary General Antonio
Guterres? After exclusively
publishing the whistleblowers'
story, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: the Global
Compact, until now, the Global
Compact has not charged
companies for joining.
Some people have said it's kind
of a blue-washing, that some
companies joined; like Ng Lap
Seng's firm joined. I
wanted to know whether you can
confirm or deny that there's a
consideration to now charge
$10,000 fee for companies to
join the Global Compact.
Spokesman: I'm not aware,
but you can contact the Global
Compact and ask them." This is
called passing the buck, lOr
should the Global Compact simply
be disbanded? In similar UN "no
due diligence" news, the last
head of the UN Department of
Public Information Cristina
Gallach did no due diligence as
Ng Lap Seng's fundees bought
events in the UN lobby and even
the UN's slavery memorial (UN
audit here),
then evicted Inner City Press
which asked her about her
connections with Ng's South
South Awards. New head of DPI
Alison Smale has done nothing
about this. We'll have more on
this - and on this: how far will
the UN go to get positive media
coverage, and to punish and
hinder, if still not prevent,
critical oversight? Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's 2015 to
Honduras and El Salvador was
given entirely positive coverage
by South South News, the
$300,000 a month bribery conduit
of now convicted
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap
Seng. Click here
for that coverage, still online.
Now in emails obtained and published
by Inner City Press, and
provided for comment to Ban's
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, it
is shown that South South News
president Francis Lorenzo, who
has pleaded guilty, wrote to UN
official Yiping Zhou about the
coverage: “Dear yiping enclose [sic]
see the first report of our
coverage of the trip of the SG
to El Salvador.”
Zhou wrote back, “Great job
covering the SG's visit. We
should do more for the SG, and
other heads of UN organs
especially also for our
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark.
Please find my letter of
support” - a letter supporting
Ng's now-disgraced, never-built
Macau conference Center.
So the UN supported Ng's corrupt
plan, in response to positive
coverage of Ban Ki-moon by Ng's
South South News. On August 21,
Inner City Press asked Ban's,
now Antonio Guterres', spokesman
Stephane Dujarric: UN Transcript
here:
Inner City Press: in the Ng
Lap Seng trial, one of the
exhibits that was used that’s
since been released and
published, has Mr. Yiping Zhu,
who I understand has left the
system, writing to Francis
Lorenzo, saying “great coverage
of the Secretary-General’s
visit” — this was a visit to
Honduras and El Salvador in 2015
— “we should do more for the SG
and other heads of UN organs,
especially for our UNDP
administrator Helen Clark.
Please find my letter of
support.” And attached to
that was a letter of support for
the Macau Convention Centre.
So, just on its face, it looks
like a quid pro quo. Thank
you for positive coverage by
South-South News of the trip,
and here’s a support for a now
highly dubious discredited
convention centre. Is… are
you comfortable with this, with
this…
Spokesman: Listen, I
haven’t seen the letter.
What is clear is that Mr. Yiping
Zhu no longer worked for this
organisation, and Mr. Lorenzo
never has. [Note: Lorenzo
has a un.org email address.]
Inner
City
Press: Right,
but he was the
representative. He was the envoy of the
Secretary-General. So, can you
say whether Ban Ki-moon had any…
Spokesman: No. Ban
Ki-moon had no knowledge of any
of this, those activities.
How does he know? On
August 22, Inner City Press
emailed Dujarric, at his
supposed request, a copy of
Zhou's and Lorenzo's message and
these questions: "Attached is
the email and letter of Ban
Ki-moon's envoy on South South
Cooperation Yiping Zhou, stating
“Great job covering the SG's
visit. We should do more for the
SG, and other heads of UN organs
especially also for our UNDP
Administrator Helen Clark.
Please find my letter of
support” - for Ng Lap Seng's
Macau conference center. This is
again a request for UN comment
on the appropriateness of this -
and also, since you said
yesterday that Ban Ki-moon had
no knowledge of this, that his
envoys were encouraging positive
coverage in this way, the basis
of that statement, or a
statement that Ban Ki-moon has
been asked about this, and his
answer... Writing on this
today.Please confirm receipt."
But Dujarric left five hours
later with no answer, not even
confirming receipt. The UN is
corrupt. Zhou was Ban Ki-moon's
personal Envoy on South South
Cooperation. And like Zhou's
letter for Ng's project, Ban
wrote a "personal 'Thank
You' note" to South South
News Afaf Konja "for her
coverage of his official visit,
calling her a 'champion for
South-South Cooperation.'"
These names came up repeatedly
during the Ng Lap Seng
prosecution, begun by then-US
Attorney Preet Bharara with the
question, Is bribery business as
usual at the UN? The answer was
and is,
Yes.
And when Inner City Press
pursued the Ng Lap Seng bribery
scandal, seeking to cover a
meeting of the UN Correspondents
Association who took full page
ads from Ng' South South News
and provided the venue for Ng's
photo op with Ban (Cipriani 42nd
Street), Inner City Press
was evicted from the UN Press
Briefing Room, then its long
time office in the UN, where it
still remains restricted under
Ban's successor Antonio
Guterres.
On August 16, Inner City Press
asked Guterres about the Ng
guilty verdicts; Guterres declined
to answer. The UN still contains
corruption, and still punishes
and restricts the Press which
covers it.
Beyond the corruption, it is a
conflict of interest to have the
same UN Department which views
its role as promoting positive
coverage of the UN be the one to
decide, without rules or free
press constraints, which media
get full access, and which like
Inner City Press are evicted and
restricted.
The incoming head of the UN
Department of Public Information
Alison Smale, replacing Cristina
Gallach who partied at Ng's
South South Awards and did no
due diligence on his events and
sponsorships in the UN, will
have to deal with this. We'll
have more on this.
***
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