In
Corrupt UN of Guterres UNESCO Has Shady
IOS Investigator from Cameroon of Paul
Biya
By Matthew
Russell Lee &
sources,
Exclusive
UN
GATE, Feb 26
– UNESCO,
like the whole
UN system
under Antonio
Guterres is
falling apart
in corruption
and fraud.
Inner
City Press has
been reporting
on serious
malfeasance by
the French
Audrey Azoulay
administration
at UNESCO in
Paris, almost
as bad as
Antonio
Guterres'
corruption in
and of the UN
in New York. A
fish rots from
the head.
And with
Guterres, who
took the
golden statue
from Cameroon's
octogenarian
dictator
Paul Biya, it
often comes
back to CameroUN.
In our
exclusive
story of
13 February,
we pointed out
the
unacceptable
situation in
which top
senior
managers like
Ottone Ramirez
in the Culture
sector or
Gabriela Ramos
in SHS Sector
can exert
totalitarian
control over
the staff
including by
using
intimidation
and harassment
that force
staff members
into fear and
obedience.
Despite
all this
exposure
though, little
progress has
been achieved
mainly due to
the criminal
complicity of
the member
states. Their
uncaring
political
attitude is in
fact a green
light given to
DG Azoulay to
continue these
practices. The
member states
are therefore
entirely
responsible
for the
unopposed
moral and
financial
bankruptcy of
UNESCO.
In the
IOS-related
revelations
that Inner
City Press is
disclosing
today, some
member states,
especially
Nordic
countries, may
see a chance
for redemption
though. Since
the term
"member
states" is
usually vague,
it's time to
put names
behind their
immoral
passivity that
is OK'ing the
collapse of
UNESCO. Nordic
countries, for
instance, are
represented at
UNESCO by: Mr
Halvor
Hvideberg,
Ambassador of
Norway, Ms
Mervi Kultamaa
Minister
Counsellor,
Chargé
d'Affaires
a.i.
representing
Finland,
Ambassador
Anna Brandt
for Sweden,
Ambassador
Carsten Staur
for Denmark,
and for
Iceland
Audbjörg
Halldórsdóttir,
Permanent
Delegate.
The
questions open
to these
distinguished
representatives
are: why do
you blindly
allow so many
scandals to
spread with
impunity; why
did you allow
institutional
accountability
to be reduced
to zero under
the DG Azoulay
regime, and -
the ostrich
not being a
Nordic bird -
why do you
keep your head
in the sand
made of
diplomatic
irresponsibility?
There
is now another
case of fraud
and abuse of
power
concerning the
Director of
UNESCO’s
Internal
Oversight
service (IOS)
Mr Bernardin
Assiene from
Cameroon. Last
September,
Inner City
Press already
wrote the
following
about him: “At
UNESCO,
anything is
possible to an
extent never
seen before.
It should also
be noted that
under
Azoulay's
tenure, not a
single French
staff has been
sanctioned for
wrongdoing
despite the
long list of
misconduct
committed by
her fellow
citizens. All
of her heavy
sanctions were
directed at
staff of
nationalities
other than
French.
The role of
Bernardin
Assiene, the
Director of
IOS, who is
normally the
one in charge
of proposing
sanctions for
such huge
violations of
rules, should
also be
questioned and
challenged in
his behavior
of covering up
the misdeeds
of French
nationals at
UNESCO.” (here)
Five
months later,
we have
discovered
more about Mr.
Assiene. So
much more, in
fact, that
member states
may well begin
to regret his
appointment,
which is a
perfect fit
for DG
Azoulay, since
Mr. Assiene
has proven to
be an
experienced
investigator
in covering up
all sorts of
unpleasant
business for
senior
management.
And he has
been playing
this dirty
game for many
years, long
before his
appointment to
UNESCO.
According
to our sources
within the
World Food
Program (WFP),
the
Cameroonian
Bernardin
Assiene had a
wide
reputation
there as a
totally
dishonest man.
That is why,
for many WFP
staff, his
appointment to
UNESCO came as
a surprise.
Most of them
thought that
UNESCO had not
checked his
previous
transgressions,
but in fact
UNESCO did,
and that is
probably the
main reason
why he was
appointed to
the post by
the
Frenchwoman
Audrey
Azoulay.
For
example, in
his previous
job at WFP,
Assiene duly
covered up for
WFP Deputy
Director Amir
Abdulla, who
was going
through an
embarrassing
love affair,
very similar
to those
currently
being
experienced by
ADG for
Culture
Ernesto Ottone
or Azoulay’s
cabinet
director
Kassianides at
UNESCO.
In
addition to
this
well-known
case at the
WFP, Bernardin
Assiene, as
director of
investigations
at the WFP,
covered up
several other
high-level
officials,
always using
the same
technique - he
kept all the
complaints by
staff in his
desk drawers
without
sharing them
with the
members of the
investigation
team and then
discredited
and
discouraged
the
complainants
from the
beginning of
the procedure,
which was
totally
against the
rules.
Bernardin
Assiene became
an expert in
violating
these rules
and was
covered in all
his misdeeds
by Inspector
General David
Johnson, who
himself was
fired in 2017
for leaking
confidential
documents.
Former
WFP Executive
Director
Erharin
Cousin,
between her
junkets back
to Chicago,
took advantage
of Mr.
Assiene's
qualities and
kept him in
office with
full impunity
as the "useful
idiot" needed
in every UN
organization
to cover up
the mess of
the powerful.
Today,
Bernardin
Assiene enjoys
the same
impunity at
UNESCO. The
question is
whether member
states will
wait for
Audrey
Azoulay's
departure to
push him out,
or whether
they will
become
indignant and
do it right
away.
Since the
beginning of
2023, Mr.
Bernardin
Assiene has
been deploying
all his skills
in the service
of Azoulay's
scrambling
management
team.
In less
than a month,
he closed the
investigation
of harassment
complaints
filed by
Social
Sciences and
Humanities
(SHS) staff
against
Mexican
ADG/SHS
Gabriela
Ramos, and the
question now
is whether Mr
Assiene will
do the same
with the
formal
complaint
filed against
ADG for
Culture
Ernesto
Ottone.
All this is
quite
unpleasant for
Azoulay's
administration,
of course.
But
she has still
to count on
Bernardin
Assiene
because
without him,
she will have
to fire half
of her ADG
team for
misconduct,
and that's bad
enough because
Madame Azoulay
has other
political
ambitions
later on than
simply
retiring to
France or
Morocco.
Mr Assiene
himself was
under
investigation
for abuse of
power and one
of the reasons
was related to
the 'private'
investigative
training
courses he was
giving to a
Nigerian young
woman with
whom he later
became
intimate.
This
is the photo
of Bernardin
Assiene with
his longtime
girlfriend
that was sent
to Inner City
Press by a
former WFP
staff. And
this is where
the case of
Bernardin
Assiene
becomes even
more
interesting
for the UNESCO
public.
To
recap, Mr.
Bernardin
Assiene was
having an
affair with a
Nigerian
investigator
who worked for
him during his
WFP days. And
guess what, by
sheer
coincidence
certainly, the
same Nigerian
investigator
was hired at
UNESCO to
assist Mr
Assiene in his
work.
This
is a blatant
case of abuse
of power and
favoritism on
the part of
the IOS
director
himself. It is
in the same
vein as the
cases of Head
of Cabinet
Kassianides
and ADG
Ottone's
mistresses,
and Legal
Affairs
Director
Santiago
Villalpando
who appointed
his wife to
UNESCO. The
question is,
who will
investigate
the principle
investigator
of UNESCO? If
he himself is
corrupt, what
are the
chances of
fighting
corruption
within the
agency, that
is the
legitimate
question.
On
the UNESCO
website, the
following can
be read about
the IOS
vision: “To be
an agent of
change
supporting the
strategic
transformation
of the
Organization
to enhance
performance,
learning,
accountability,
transparency,
and
efficiency,
therefore
contributing
to building
stakeholder's
trust in
UNESCO”.
Trust?
Building
stakeholder's
trust in
UNESCO with
this person as
Director of
IOS? Are you
convinced of
this, dear
ambassadors of
Nordic and
other EU
countries,
experts in
lecturing the
rest of the
world about
corruption?
Bernardin
Assiene is
certainly not
morally and
ethically up
to the job of
Director of
IOS at UNESCO.
The French DG
Audrey Azoulay
has allowed
this total
disqualification
of IOS as well
as that of
most of the
Program
Sectors of the
agency.
The
case of her
ADG for
culture, the
Chilean
Ernesto Ottone
Ramirez is a
blatant
example in
this
direction.
After
promoting his
previous
mistress to
the position
of P-5 in
charge of the
executive
office of the
sector, Ottone
is now working
to get his
current
mistress a
job. With IOS
Director now
exposed as
playing on the
same lovers'
field, UNESCO
has clearly
become the
place for
sexual
appointments
and
promotions.
One
persisting
mystery though
is the reason
why
influential
member states
remain silent,
while no other
previous
Director-General
benefited from
such
indulgence and
for how much
longer the
deep moral
crisis in
which UNESCO
is swimming
today will be
considered
within
acceptable
limits by
those funding
the
Organization.
We will have
more on all
that. Watch
this site!
We will
have more on
that. Watch
this site
***
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