UNITED
NATIONS GATE, April 17
– How lawless is
the United Nations
of Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres? In the
midst of Inner
City Press'
questioning
in 2018 about
Guterres' links to
now convicted UN
bribery Patrick
Ho's China Energy
Fund Committee and
Guterres' failures
on Cameroon
and elsewhere, his
UN Security twice
roughed up Inner
City Press on June 22 and July
3, 2018.
Then
after Inner City
Press filed a New
York Police
Department
complaint against
the UN and its
Lieutenant Ronald
E. Dobbins, none
of its written
questions to UN
Security chief
Peter Drennen
and Guterres
were answered.
There are no
due process
rights for
journalists in
the UN of
Guterres. On
April 15, a year
minus a day
since the UN
accredited
Inner City
Press on 16
April 2018, Inner
City Press
submitted a
formal
application
and letter
for
re-accreditation,
including in
light of the
guilty verdict
and
sentencing
against
Patrick Ho of
CEFC (video
here),
financial
links to which
Guterres has
failed to disclose and has for
287
days sought to
censor to conceal.
On the
morning of April
17, without
any reasoning
or
explanation,
this:
"Greetings
Matthew LEE
from
ICP
INNER CITY
PRESS,
Your media
accreditation
request, with
reference no:
M66561081, has
been
declined."
Just as there
was no
hearing, no action
on assault by
UN DSS
Lieutenant
Ronald E.
Dobbins, and
not appeals
process, no reasons.
Absolute
lawless
corruption.
The
letter was sent to
Guterres, his
USG Alison
Smale and
her
"personal assistant"
Alison Corbet, his
chief of staff
Maria Luiza
Viotti and
her staffer
Eihab Omaish,
his
Deputy SG
Amina J. Mohammed
and her chief
of
staff Nelson
Muffuh, as well
as to PGA
Maria Fernanda
Espinosa
Garces, her
chief of
staff Kwabena Oseidanquah,
her
spokesperson
Monica Grayley and
staffers Nadia
Kalb and
Raquel Martins and
others still to
be named
along with a simple
request for confirmation
of receipt.
Even this they had not
done, a full 38
hours later. From
what's been
submitted: "A
year ago on 16
April 2018 I
was
re-accredited
to enter and
cover the
United
Nations, as
for many years
before. Then I
asked more and
more questions
about the
Patrick Ho /
CEFC China
Energy UN
bribery
scandal, about
the Secretary
General, about
Cameroon - and
on 22 June
2018 I was
pushed out of
the UN
Visitors Lobby
while other
non-resident
correspondents
remained
there.
On 3 July 2018
as I covered
the UN Budget
Committee
meetings as I
have for
years, I was
physically
roughed up by
UN DSS Lt
Ronald Dobbins
and another
who refused to
give his name.
On July 5 I
was told I
could not
enter the UN
and this
remains the
case, with no
hearing and no
appeal.
Now just less
than a year
since I was
accredited,
before the
above and
other facts of
record, I am
submitting
this formal
application
for
accreditation
which you
grant to
correspondents
who report far
less, and far
less
critically, on
the UN than
Inner City
Press.
It is
particularly
imperative
that Inner
City Press be
allowed to
enter and
attend the
noon briefing
as hundreds of
my questions
have gone
unanswered
despite USG
Smale's assurance
to UNSR David
Kaye, and
Spokesman
Dujarric's on
camera
assurance.
This
request is
submitted in
light of the
U.S. Supreme
Court's
decision
limiting the
impunity of
international
organization
such as the
UN, see JAMS
v IFC, and
in light of
recent
decision that
for example
the City of
New York
cannot strip a
journalist's
accreditation
without a
hearing and
due process,
discovery and
disclosure.
Beyond
the hundreds
of articles
covering the
UN since the
arbitrary
ouster of 3
July 2018, for
the
record:
March 29,
2019, Hong
Kong TV documentary
on Patrick Ho
CEFC, Inner
City Press in
front of UN
and
SDNY
April
3, 2019,
Serbia's Espreso,
"US journalist
Metju Li
[Matthew Lee]
on a
corruption
scandal," etc;
it is
supplemented
by a more than
6,533
signature petition
that my
resident
correspondent
accreditation
and Inner City
Press' long
time shared
office S-303
be immediately
restored...
While noting
that the UN
accreditation
guidelines
state "online
media may
include news
outlets,
blogs, vlogs
and others,"
we and the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access
reiterate and
will be
advocating for
greater access
by new and
social media,
including for
the UN to
belatedly
define what it
means by "wire
service." See
also, on the
need for a UN
FOIA, this.It is also
imperative
that the UN
institute due
process
protections,
and content
neutral
accreditation
rules, for
journalists.
But for now,
this is a
demand for the
same access I
have had to
cover the UN
and as state
media with
many fewer
articles and
questions have
from your
Office, and to
restore my
resident
correspondent
accreditation,
and S303,
forthwith,
during this
month you are
handing such
status to some
(including as
is relevant in
S-303, Inner
City Press'
work-space)
who rarely
come in,
publish little
and ask no
questions at
all.
Thank
you.
Sincerely,
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Esq., Inner
City Press
Past (and
future?)
Office at UN:
Room S-303, UN
HQ, NY NY 10017."
How has the UN
become so corrupt?
Take
for example
the 18 March
2019 UN
Photo with
this caption:
"Secretary-General
António
Guterres
(centre right)
poses for a
group photo
with the
Executive
Committee of
the UN
Correspondents
Association
(UNCA).
First row from
left to right:
Betul Yuruk
(Anadolu
Agency);
Giampaolo
Pioli
(Quotidiano
Nazionale);
Edith Lederer
(Associated
Press); Maria
Luiza Ribeiro
Viotti, Chef
de Cabinet;
Valeria
Robecco (ANSA
News Agency),
UNCA
President; Mr.
Guterres;
Alison Smale,
Under-Secretary-General
for Global
Communications;
Maria Khrenova
(TASS News
Agency); Seana
Magee (Kyodo
News); and
Oscar Bolanos
(OMB
News).
Second row
from left to
right:
Stéphane
Dujarric,
Spokesman for
the
Secretary-General;
Sherwin
Bryce-Pease
(SABC South
Africa);
Farnaz Fassihi
(Wall Street
Journal);
Widad Franco
(NHK Japan
Broadcasting);
Melissa Kent
(CBC/Radio-Canada);
Nabil Abi Saab
(Al Hurra TV);
Luke Vargas
(Talk Media
News); Carole
Landry (Agence
France
Presse); and
Erol Avdovic
(Webpublicapress)."
We'll have more on
this.
For years Guterres
received money as a
board member of the
Calouste Galbenkian
Foundation, which
despite its name is
the 100% owner of
Partex Oil and Gas.
Partex
has operations in
Angola, Abu Dhabi,
Brazil, Kazakhstan,
the Netherlands,
Oman and Portugal.
It was to a
Portuguese court
that Guterres, while
justifying
no listing some of
his income,
disclosed in 2016
that he was paid at
least € 2735 per
month for his
position with the
Gulbenkian
Foundation.
But while a now
deleted Foundation
web page (archived here)
stated that Guterres
continued with
Gulbenkian into
2018, Guterres did
not list it on his most
recent, and so
far lone, UN Public
Financial
Disclosure, which
covered 2016
("Disclosing
financial and other
interests for the
2016 reporting
year").
So why did Guterres
disclose his
position with the
Club of Madrid, but
not
with the Gulbenkian
Foundation / Partex
Oil and Gas?
Inner City Press has
a right
to re-enter
and pursue these
questions.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office, past
&
future?: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
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Gate
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