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At UNGA Burundi First Lady Takes Award Linked to UN Money Launderer Garcia Protected by Guterres

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive; CEFC

UN GATE, Sept 28 – A UN diplomat who helped previously UN briber Francis Lorenzo launder money, Carlos Garcia, was never disciplined as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is focused on covering up his own links to UN bribery. Earlier today Inner City Press  reported that Carlos Garcia is still misusing the UN name, selling fraudulent coins in South Korea, here.

  Now we report that the wife of Burundi strong man Pierre Nkurunziza, Denise Nkurunziza, in the USA during UNGA week took an award from an ungazetted "special ambassador" of Nkurunziza who is linked with UN money launderer Carlos Garcia, here. The decline of the UN into covered up bribery and money laundering, for the benefit of dictators, is the direct fault of Antonio Guterres. He should be impeached.

Allowing these are the fault of Guterres, the most corrupt Secretary General in the UN's history.

  At the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Inner City Press covered the first UN bribery case and reported on Garcia's role pressuring the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic to not report and to allow passage of Lorenzo's bribe money. In the second case, Inner City Press reported daily on the prosecution and conviction of Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy which tried to buy the oil company of Gulbenkian Foundation which paid Guterres money he refused to disclose, choosing instead to rough up and ban Inner City PRess.

  Now reporting daily from the SDNY and the UN gate, Inner City Press during the UNGA high week it is banned from by Guterres is exclusively reporting a coin offering "World United Coins" in South Korea and elsewhere involving Carlos Garcia, the UN money laundering, stating it has the support of Antonio Guterres and President of the General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande who has joined Guterres in his censorship. See photos here.

  The website says, "The United Nations gives the World Unicom Certificate a high degree of development recognition," with a photo of Guterres with all his undisclosed Chinese bribery links. It says, " The newly elected 74th President of the General Assembly, Bandy, met with Charles LU on the evening of September 17th to congratulate the success of the Global Exchange on September 16 and highly recognized the World Unicom Certificate in the past year. In the amazing development speed and achievements in the field of digital finance, we recognize that WUC has earnestly fulfilled its founding mission and made a real contribution to improving the lives of people in developing countries around the world."

  Garcia's Instagram account says: "ambcarlosgarcia Today we had a great meeting in our office. Our co-Chairman, Mr. Charles Lu comeback from Beijing, and we met with two strategic representatives from OPAD, the Organization for Poverty Alleviation and Development, Mr. Peter Kamara , and Mr. Al Shek with a view to strengthening our collaborative efforts in promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. #OPAD #UNA-SV #pastorrodneyhowardbrowne #ElSalvador #SierraLeone."

  This UNA-SV group sponsors the fraudulent coins.

 These people should be arrested. All of them - to the very top. A fish rots from the head, and that's corrupt Guterres, the censor.

While UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was refusing throughout 2018 to begin any UN audit into China Energy Fund Committee, implicated in the UN bribery prosecution US v Patrick Ho, Guterres had a secret: his role on the board of Gulbenkian Foundation which was trying to sell its Partex Oil affiliate to CEFC. See Inner City Press' first exclusive report here.

   A now-removed Gulbenkian Foundation web page says Guterres continued as a board member into 2018. Archived here. In fact it was on 9 February 2018 that Gulbenian tweeted that Guterres was no longer on the board - AFTER it was reported that Gulbenian was trying to sell, or even had already sold, Partex to CEFC. This is called guilty knowledge.

 While Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric is refusing to answer Inner City Press' written questions, contrary to promises by Guterres' Global Communicator Alison Smale, it appears Guterres' evasive defense is claiming that he left Gulbenkian in November 2016 and therefore somehow had no conflict of interest in refusing and blocking the obviously needed UN audit of CEFC after the arrest of its Patrick Ho for UN bribery. This defense is dubious.

  Why did Gulbenkian take down its webpage disclosing that Guterres remained on board into 2018? Why - sixteen months after Guterres ostensibly left - did they wait until February 2018 to tweet that he left? Because their negotiations with CEFC became public (see 2 February 2018 Bloomberg here, and 6 February MacauHub here: "CEFC China Energy buys Portugal’s Partex Oil & Gas.")

  In any event, Guterres' "2017" Financial Disclosure, which explicitly says it covered the year 2016 in which even in this new story he remained on Gulbenkian's board into November, more than 80% of the year - did not disclose his role in Gulbenkian, only on the Club of Madrid. Guterres has had previous financial disclosure omissions, for example in Portugal, here. CEFC was hardly unknown: it bought a Portuguese insurance company in November 2017, here.

    Guterres' failure to disclose and, separately and even more so, his refusal to audit CEFC in the UN was a direct conflict of interest, which he has tried to cover up by roughing up and banning Inner City Press which asked him about it. (See January 2018 press conference here, July 2018 roughing up by Guterres' UN Security here, banning letter via Press Freedom Tracker here.)

Three times now Dujarric, his deputy Farhan Haq and Office of the Spokesperson colleagues Marcia Soares Pinto and Keishamaza Rukikaire, as well as Guterres, his chief of staff Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti and Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed have refused to answer this: "Beyond the 36 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer last week, still set forth below for promised answer, this is a reiterated request past deadline that you (1) state when SG Guterres left his position on the Gulbenkian Foundation, (2) state why Gulbenkian was not listed on SG Guterres' public financial disclosure which covered 2016; (3) explain how it is not a conflict of interest for SG Guterres to have refused to start an audit of CEFC in the UN, as requested by Inner City Press in January 2018, given CEFC's bid for the oil business of Gulbenkian. Also, again, state why under SG Guterres there have been no updates to the UN public financial disclosures since those filed for 2016. Also, again, explain your refusal to answer any of Inner City Press' questions this week despite USG Smale's statements to GAP, me and UNSR David Kaye." No response at all, even as spokesman Dujarric for example tweets at actor Seth Rogin. Dujarric, as simply one example, on 1 March 2018 evaded Inner City Press' in-person questions about CEFC and Guterres, less than a month after Gulbenkian said Guterres was off the board, amid oil negotiations with CEFC. Video here. Then Guterres and Dujarric had Inner City Press roughed up and banned from the UN. Guterres' wife Catarina Vaz Pinto also worked for Gulbenkian. This is today's corrupt UN.

   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? It is worth noting that Guterres' wife Catarina Vaz Pinto has also been connected to Gulbenkian.

   Following the roughing up and banning from the UN of Inner City Press which has covered the CEFC scandal throughout, Guterres' head of Global Communications Alison Smale promised UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression David Kaye, who asked, that the UN would still answer Inner City Press' written questions.

   But as 2018 came to a close Guterres' spokesmen Stephane Dujarric and Farhan Haq left unanswered 36 questions in a row from Inner City Press, including this: “Beyond the 35 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer this week, this is a request on deadline that you (1) state when SG Guterres left his position on the Gulbenkian Foundation,

(2) state why Gulbenkian was not listed on SG Guterres' public financial disclosure which covered 2016;

(3) explain how it is not a conflict of interest for SG Guterres to have refused to start an audit of CEFC in the UN, as requested by Inner City Press in January 2018, given CEFC's bid for the oil business of Gulbenkian.

Also, again, state why under SG Guterres there have been no updates to the UN public financial disclosures since those filed for 2016. Also, again, explain your refusal to answer any of Inner City Press' questions this week despite USG Smale's statements to GAP, me and UNSR David Kaye. On deadline.”

   The question was also sent to the e-mail addresses of Guterres, his chief of staff Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed, and Smale, who earlier in the week told Inner City Press she would take “under advisement” her 17 August 2018 pretextual withdrawal of Inner City Press decade long UN media accreditation.
  It seems clear that Guterres and his team have engaged in censorship for corruption, to conceal a blatant conflict of interest by Guterres. It has been raised by Inner City Press to the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, and others.  Watch this site.

***

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