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By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive follow up

UNITED NATIONS GATE, November 26 – With UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres gone from New York with location and costs to the public undisclosed for four days and counting having praised the UN Office of South South Cooperation so recently exposed as a bribery vehicle in the Ng Lap Seng - President of the UN General Assembly John Ashe corruption prosecution, OSSC chief Jorge Chediek held another press conference with Inner City Press which reports on his corruption still banned. Four hours before Chediek's "press conference" which drew three wan questions, Inner City Press asked Guterres and his two spokesmen questions in writing including "what is the SG's comment on / justification of, and action on, the travel of Jorge Chediek, Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation who spent over $81,300 in public funds on travel in 2017. Now in 2018 he has spent in excess of $82,500 on travel by November," see listed below. The list was sent to Guterres, his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed, Communicator Alison Smale and the spokesmen. But after the wan press conference, here is all lead Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq sent on this: "Regarding question Nov 26-4, Jorge Chediek briefed the press today and his briefing is available at the following link." That is no justification or explanation at all. Today's UN is corrupt - it roughs up and bans those who ask how it is run, and caters to those who ask softball questions and write or publish little or nothing.  In fact, the trial in the next UN bribery case, that of China Energy Fund Committee, began the same day - Inner City Press story here - and still no audit from UNSG Guterres. The night before, this exclusive update on OSSC and Chediek: In the wake of Erik Solheim’s forced resignation from UNEP after revelations of travel no worse than those of Guterres himself, questions remain over the travel of Jorge Chediek, Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation who racked up over $81,300 in travel in 2017. Despite the previous revelations, Mr. Chediek continued his high traveling ways, having spent in excess of $82,500 on travel by November of this year. In total, his travels for the last two years amount to nearly $164,000 criss-crossing over 30 countries, with over a month left before the end of the year. This list, exclusively:

JORGE CHEDIEK, UN Office for South-South Cooperation
Benin $ 5,390.00 $ 509.04
Switzerland $ 2,450.00 $ 1,272.00
Thailand $ 3,140.00 $ 975.53
Turkey - Kazakhstan $ 4,500.00 $ 1,091.24
Kenya $ 4,740.00 $ 1,210.72
China $ 5,270.00 $ 673.40
Brazil $ 5,950.00 $ 505.76
Argentina $ 3,520.00 $ 1,230.00
China - India $ 9,045.10 $ 1,420.90
Argentina $ 4,053.00 $ 1,168.32
France $ 2,424.50 $ 1,313.68
Germany $ 2,315.00 $ 1,030.00
Brazil $ 2,672.10 $ 815.50
Turkey $ 2,722.00 $ 363.00
Bangladesh - Hong Kong $ 7,800.00 $ 1,771.48
Hawaii $ 2,848.00 $ 337.80
Egypt - France $ 3,976.90 $ 2,283.00
Brazil $ 2,747.60 $ 822.17
Argentina $ 5,053.70 $ 909.52
Portugal - Spain $ 3,832.01 $ 1,698.16
Cuba $ 342.70 $ 848.94
South Africa $ 7,424.50 $ 710.39
China $ 5,429.00 $ 1,307.21
France - Norway $ 1,912.71 $ 1,603.60
Thailand $ 6,326.00 $ 1,262.83
Egypt $ 5,650.00 $ 983.92
India $ 3,882.21 $ 763.68
Iran - UAE $ 4,815.13 $ 1,146.72
Switzerland - Italy $ 4,914.83 $ 1,311.96
Brazil $ 2,481.31
Poland 4,671.63
  It is worth noting that Solheim was the head of a UN agency while Chediek has managed to spend this sizeable sum merely as head of an Office. The public censure has not slowed his ambitions to campaign for a coveted ASG post in the least; he continues the campaigning disguised as preparations for the March 2019 BAPA+40 conference. Travel records backed up by his Facebook posts reveal that he is not one to cave in to any criticism on excessive spending.

This is egregious misappropriation of agency funds in the context of overall funding shortages at the United Nations Developmet Programme that allocated $3.5 million annually OSSC. As Mr. Chediek continues to rack up air miles, who in UNDP approves travel for the second most globetrotting UNDP official? What percentage of OSSC budget is dedicated to travel? Why is this information not publicly available? What are the development gains as a result of these baseless travels? Moreover, it again raises questions  over the prudence of cash strapped Argentina, now under austerity measures, to be spending millions on Mr. Chediek’s BAPA+40 conference.

These issues will be highlighted at the annual UNOSSC Global Expo, slated for the end of this week (November 28-30) in New York. This three day conference will again consist of events which for the most part only nominally contribute to development. In reality, it is just another self promoting, expensive, photo opportunity event for Mr. Chediek and his cronies, with the endorsement of Secretary General Guterres and UNDP Administrator Steiner. For transparency reasons, ICP is requesting details on the budget of the UNOSSC Global Expo, including travel costs and details of those sponsored to attend this jamboree in New York.

As recession looms in Argentina, its Central Bank raising its interest rates substantially in the past month and after the country announced it was turning to the IMF for a bailout, the government is set to spend millions of borrowed dollars on a wasteful UN conference on South-South Cooperation slated for March 2019 in Buenos Aires, to spend millions on an Office led by director Jorge Chediek whos aim OSSC sources say is to use this conference to advance to UN Assistant Secretary General level. His tenure at the Office thus far has involved a spate of self promotional travel while signing off on dubious Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) for projects that are only tangentially related to actual South-South development.
The MoU signings are often documented on the Facebook pageof Mr. Chediek, where he brags about the support from Guterres, who has refused to audit the next UN corruption scandal involving Patrick Ho the China Energy Fund Committee and had Inner City Press which reports on it roughed up and banned from the UN.

Its collaboration with Yingke Group, started initially when current UNOSSC Deputy Direcor Grace Wang, a Chinese national, worked at BPPS. When she commenced her role at UNOSSC, this relationship traveled with her. This Yingke Group -UNOSSC collaboration is covered in a 30 May 2018 article entitled UNOSSC delegation discusses South-South collaboration with Yingke Group where it claims this collaboration "is designed to be one pillar of the South-South Cooperation Poverty Eradication Facility,aiming to utilize tourism as an instrument for poverty alleviation through improving infrastructure, generating local employment, increasing local income, and developing local capacities." But what is behind these buzzwords?

The large number of Mo Us also attest to the frequency of wasteful travelby Mr. Chediek. While million of Argentinians are subjected to austerity, the Government of President Macri has decided to invest millions in the ambitions of one man, Mr. Chediek. In addition to the Chinese nepotism, Mr. Chediek seems to have his own questionable connections. Recently, OSSC sources complain, he hired an Argentinian national for a senior peace-building post and one whose brother is the founder and executive director of Brandling Latin America, a London based PR firm with royal connections through the company's senior director Lady Gabriella Windsor?

The Office continues to operate in highly questionable ways, giving rise to these questions: 'This Office of South South Cooperation is nested under UNDP, and provided with $25 million in core money from the UNDP budget. This budget is currently protected from any change in UNDP's financial situation. It should be noted that the budgets of the other UNDP-funded organizations, UN Volunteers and UNCDF - which had their strategic frameworks approved by this Board, and whose monitoring and evaluation frameworks are clear - are not protected. So... I) When will the Office's budget, monitoring and evaluation and results be reported to the [UNDP Executive] Board, and will this be for decision? 2) Will the Office start producing an annual report again, and when will this be available to the Board? 3) How is the Office working with UNDP's evaluation and audit offices? 4) Where will the Office's results be reported and collated? 5) How does the Office comply with UNDP's transparency requirements? We also note the Office's fundraising activities, and the very generous investments totaling $150 million this year by the Government of India.

   We'll have more on Guterres and this Office, in India and beyond. Amid record unemployment rates and long soup kitchen queues is BAPA+40 really a priority item for the Government of Argentina?  What is happening to the UN under Guterres, and his spokesman Dujarric who blocks and bans the Press? Watch this site.

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