In UN
Scandal News,
Lorenzo Not
Immune, Was
Press Room
"Lent" to Him?
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 4 --
Ban Ki-moon's
tenure as UN
Secretary
General became
embroiled in
one scandal
after another
in 2015 -- but
at his
“year-end”
press
conference he
refused to
answer a Press
question
directly on
it. Video
here and
embedded
below. Vine
here. On
January 5,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman,
below. On
January 14, at
Ban's
stakeout,
Inner City
Press was
again denied a
question.
Now one
of the
indictees
asserting
immunity,
Frank Lorenzo,
has his
immunity
denied by U.S.
District Judge
Vernon Broderick.
Lorenzo, we
note, appeared
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room -- it is
not clear if
it was "lent"
to him, which
Ban's
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
February 1
told Inner
City Press is
really (or
only) his
decision.
Inner
City Press has
been asking
Dujarric's
Deputy Farhan
Haq to provide
a list of to
whom Dujarric
"lent" the UN
Press Briefing
Room; Haq has
refused,
attempting
instead to
opine from his
podium on Inner
City Press'
motives for
asking the
questions.
On
January 29,
Dujarric and
Haq ordered
Inner City
Press out of
the Press
Briefing Room,
where it was
covering a
meeting of the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
which after
taking money
from an entity
of indictee Ng
Lap Seng got
Ng a photo op
with Ban.
Inner City
Press'
questioning on
this has been
cut into this
week by
Reuters
correspondent
and former
bureau chief,
AFP's
correspondents
and others -
on UNCA's
board. There
are additional
UNCA connection
to all this -
watch this
site.
Now a second
defendant in
the scandal,
Sheri Yan, has
entered a
guilty plea.
She was -- and
is -- the CEO
of the the
Global
Sustainability
Foundation
which
reportedly
funneled
bribes at the
UN, and at the
founding of
which some
very close to
Ban, including
his wife and
his
representative
on Sri Lanka
and now
Myanmar, Vijay
Nambiar.
On
January 21,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq, UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press:
Now the second
of the people
indicted in
the John Ashe
case for
bribery in
connection
with
obtaining, it
seems, UN
documents
about that
conference
centre has
pled guilty,
Sheri Yan, the
CEO of the
Global
Sustainability
Foundation.
This is now
somebody
higher up in
the group, and
the founding
of the
organization
took place on
the 4th Floor
with one of
the senior
advisers of
the
Secretary-General
very much
present.
What does —
what does the
UN think about
the
development of
the
case?
Have there
been contacts
with the
Secretariat?
What's the
status of the
audit of the
UN's
interactions
with Global
Sustainability
Foundation and
Sun Kian Ip
Group?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Well, the
audit by the
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services is
continuing.
I don't have
anything
really to say
on it until
it's
completed.
As you know,
we've done
also a
separate audit
that's being
finalized by
the Office of
South-South
Cooperation,
and we expect
that that
audit will be
public
sometime in
March.
Beyond that, I
wouldn't have
any comment on
the latest
proceedings.
We certainly
hope that all
the facts are…
come out as a
result of this
particular
judicial
process.
March?
Yan's
guilty plea,
follows that
of Heidi Piao,
Yan's
underling at
GSF. So they
are moving up
the chain.
Will it go
high enough
up? Answers
are needed.
Inner City
Press:
yesterday one
of the
individuals
arrested in
the UN
corruption
cases
involving,
allegedly,
John Ashe and
Ng Lap Seng,
Heidi Piao has
pled guilty
and has said
she will
cooperate, so
this seems to…
as before,
you've always
said, it's
just an
allegation.
Seems like if
somebody
pleads guilty
and is going
to serve time,
there's
probably
something to
the
allegation.
What does the
Secretary-General…
I noticed in
his speech
about his
priorities
there was not
a mention of
UN reforms or
trying to look
into
this.
Does he see
this as more
serious now?
Spokesman:
I think we've
always taken
these
allegations
seriously, and
I wouldn't
want anybody
to think
otherwise.
The audit that
he ordered by
OIOS is
ongoing.
It should be
wrapped up, I
believe, at
some point
next
month. I
think UNDP is
also in the
final stage of
reviewing
their
audit.
As we've said,
we will also
be putting
forward some
recommendations
to the
President of
the General
Assembly's
Office to
ensure that
there is
greater
transparency
and
efficiencies
in how both
the
Secretariat
and,
obviously, the
PGA's office
is run.
Inner
City Press
asked asked
current PGA
Mogens
Lykketoft
about the
guilty plea, video here.
Indicted
businessman Ng
Lap Seng,
charged with
paying bribes
to buy a
document from
Ban's
Secretariat
for a UN
conference
center in
Macau, has
withdrawn his
December 10
request for a
speedy trial,
and says he
may ask to
sever his
trial from
that of former
UN President
of the General
Assembly John
Ashe.
Will this
extend his UN
corruption
case past the
tenure of Ban
Ki-moon? Or
impact the
continue
reports of Ban
as a player in
South Korea's
upcoming
Presidential
race?
On
January 5,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, from
the transcript:
Inner City
Press: I would
assume that
you’ve seen
that the
businessman Ng
Lap Seng, who
stands to be
put on trial
for having,
among other
things,
purchased
documents from
the
Secretariat,
is the way I’d
phrase it,
through the
John Ashe
case, has
asked to have
his case
severed and
delayed.
He’s no longer
asking for a
speedy
trial. I
wanted to know
if you have
any comment
and if the UN
Secretariat
had… or its
UNDP (United
Nations
Development
Programme)
office of
South-South
Cooperation
have been
contacted or
are
cooperating in
any way with
these various
trials.
Spokesman:
No, I’m not
aware of any
contacts.
We can ask the
South-South
office.
Inner City
Press:
And I guess…
it was said,
when this
first came up,
that the
director of
the
South-South
office was new
and that’s why
he never came
forward to… to
talk about
what these
serious
charges mean
for his
office.
Is he now less
new? Can
he come
forward?
Spokesman:
I’m sure he’s
less new by
the day; each
day and every
day we get
older and we
get less
new.
That’s the
laws of
physics and
biology, which
we can’t
fight.
You’re welcome
to get in
touch with his
office.
Inner City
Press: I
have. I
want to
emphasize to
you that a
simple
document, a
supposedly
public
document, they
signed with
Dominica has
yet to be
released, so…
Ban's envoy to
Libya Bernardino
Leon was
exposed by
leaks as
having taken
instructions
and then a job
from the
United Arab
Emirates.
And Ban's head
of UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve
Ladsous,
is listed in
UN Dispute
Tribunal
documents as
having tried
to cover up
child rapes in
Central
African
Republic by
peacekeepers
from his
native France.
Inner
City Press,
which Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric did
not call on
despite
calling two
separate times
on the same UN
Correspondents
Association
scribe, asked
audibly, “Do
you have any
update on the
John Ashe
indictment?
Bernardino
Leon? These
were major
developments
this year.” Vine here.
But Ban
refused to
answer the
question. He
walked out of
the briefing
room, shaking
hands scribes.
The press
conference
began with
Dujarric
setting aside
the first
question for
the head of
UNCA, who
thanked Ban
for attending
an event on
Wall Street for
which UNCA
charged $6,000
to sit with
Ban. This
is the UN
Corruption
Association.
A
question on or
to cover up
the sexual
abuse scandal
was arranged,
with Agence
France Presse
congratulating
Ban for this
response to
the sexual
abuse scandal.
(Senegalese
Babacar Gaye
was urged to
resign,
Ladsous who on
camera linked
the rapes to
“R&R," video here, remains in
place.)
Ban read out a
wan answer on
Burundi;
his deputy
spokeperson
refused an
Inner City
Press question
on Burundi at
the previous
day's noon
briefing.
We'll have
more on this.
Ban once
promised
monthly press
conference but
his last one
was three
months before,
then nine
months before
that. On
September 16
with the UN
being less
than
successful in
mediating in Yemen
and Libya,
Syria and
South Sudan,
accused of
rapes in
Central
African
Republic and
killing 8,000
in Haiti with
cholera (after
40,000 died in
Sri
Lanka with
little
response from
the UN),
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
asked, What is
your legacy?
Dujarric
himself cut
off Inner City
Press
questions on
what Ladsous
said, and
declined to
answer on
Reddit in an
“Ask Me
Anything.” (He
didn't say
he's ANSWER
everything,
one wag
pointed out.)
But
even beyond
the scandals,
Ban did not in
his opening
statement
mention
Somalia, or
CAR, or
Darfur; none
of the
questions
selected by
Dujarric was
about Africa.
(One wire
points out
Africa was
part of a
UN-at-70
question;
noted.)
Inner City
Press also
tried to ask
about Burundi
-- nothing -
and South
Sudan, on
which we are
preparing a
story.
It was
Voice of
America with
the “What is
your legacy”
question. Ban
said he'd
answer next
year. Inner
City Press
might answer
sooner. Watch
this site. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
