| In
Corrupt UN of Guterres UNESCO Control by
Member States Drops as Miculescu MIA
By Matthew
Russell Lee &
sources,
Exclusive
UN
GATE, Dec 19
– 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.
In
this latest
edition for
2024, two
issues merit
attention. The
silence of
member states
concerning the
violation of
the
Constitution
by DG Audrey
Azoulay and
the cover-up
by IOS
Director
Bernardin
Assiene of the
complaint
lodged by
staff members
against ADG
for Culture
Ottone Ramirez
for harassment
and abuse of
power.
In terms of
governance at
UNESCO, 2024
was clearly a
year of
progress in
which
governance was
finally
exercised, not
least thanks
to the renewed
role of the
Executive
Board.
Improved
governance led
to fixing the
deficit scam
and the swift
dismissal of
UNESCO's two
most senior
budget and
administration
officials,
Nicholas
Jeffreys and
Magdolna
Bona. In
addition,
still
following the
revelations of
Inner City
Press (here),
Azoulay
terminated the
contractual
appointment of
the wife of
legal advisor
Santiago
Villalpando,
which had been
decided
against all
ethical
practice.
This
was clearly
another
example of
abuse of
power, since
Santiago
Villalpando
had obtained,
in exchange
for his legal
favors to
Azoulay, that
his wife
Marina
Silberman be
appointed to a
P5 position
within the
Financial
Management
Branch (BFM).
Now that has
come to an end
as well. This
is to say that
revelations
and
disclosures
pay off, and
that member
states take
action when it
comes to the
misuse of
public
money.
On the
other side of
the coin
though,
politically
speaking, the
President of
the General
Conference,
Romanian
Ambassador
Simona-Mirela
Miculescu, has
been extremely
indecisive and
inconsistent
with her
constant
pretentions
for
leadership,
when
confronted
with the case
regarding DG
Audrey
Azoulay's
violation of
the
Constitution,
revealed by
Inner City
Press (here
).
Given
that Romania
will host the
32nd UNESCO
Conference on
World Press
Freedom Day in
May 2025 in
Bucharest (here - ) the lack of
response from
Ambassador
Miculescu, to
our request
for comments
is totally
conflicting
with the
priority given
by her country
to the
celebration of
press freedom.
The absence of
a response is
rather an
impediment to
press
freedom.
Her
stance sharply
contrasts with
the behavior
of one of her
predecessors
in this
position - the
former Turkish
Ambassador to
UNESCO and
former
President of
the General
Conference
Altay
Cengizer. It’s
worth
reminding
Simona-Mirela
Miculescu that
during his
term Altay
Cengizer was
fully playing
his role
according to
the
prerogatives
given to him
by member
states.
The letter
sent on
February 2,
2021 to all
Permanent
Delegates to
UNESCO is a
striking
example of
this (here
).
We
wrote on that
occasion
highlighting
the fact that
“…The
statements
made by
several
ambassadors at
the 210th
Board session
last December
was the first
breach of the
adopted rules
for the
nomination of
a
Director-General.
UNESCO has
seen
corruption and
abuse of power
over the last
three years on
a number of
occasions, but
never such
blatant lack
of respect for
the governing
bodies”.
Our
article also
highlighted
that
regardless of
established
procedures, DG
Audrey Azoulay
kept using
political
pressure to
bargain her
reelection.
The circular
letter sent
off, on 2nd
February, to
193 member
states by
Altay Cengizer
drew the
attention of
member states
to the
importance of
respecting
existing rules
and practices.
It whistled
the end of the
pre-electoral
silly game by
the French DG.
As a
consequence,
the
ambassadors,
involved in
the
discreditable
arrangement,
felt badly
exposed.
Furthermore,
in another
letter dated
April 8, 2021,
addressed to
all member
states with
permanent
delegations to
UNESCO, Altay
Cengizer
strongly
emphasized
that he was
acting within
the framework
of his
prerogatives
as “custodian
of the
Constitution”.
Ambassador
Simona-Mirela
Miculescu
should reread
these letters
and perhaps
she will
finally
understand
that she is
today the
guardian of
UNESCO's
Constitution
and that,
consequently,
the violation
of the
Constitution
mentioned
above by DG
Azoulay
clearly falls
within her
prerogatives
and that she
must remedy it
accordingly.
She can hardly
escape her
institutional
responsibilities,
unfortunately
for her,
despite her
astonishing
silence and
lack of
action. In
fact,
Ambassador
Simona-Mirela
Miculescu's
lack of
reaction is
blatant
confirmation
that this
violation of
the
Constitution
is a fact.
Otherwise, she
would
immediately
have
vehemently
opposed it in
order to
please her
orders-giver,
DG Audrey
Azoulay.
The
second issue
concerns IOS
Director
Bernardin
Assiene's
cover-up of
the complaint
against ADG
for Culture
Ottone
Ramirez. Inner
City Press was
informed that
there was a
formal
complaint,
completed and
sent to IOS by
two staff
members
regarding a
fraudulent
recruitment
process in the
Culture Sector
for
harassment,
abuse of power
and favoritism
against Ottone
Ramirez. As a
matter of
fact, the end
result of this
recruitment
process was
the
appointment of
Ottone's
Spanish
mistress to
the position.
Despite the
complaint, IOS
closed the
case and the
question is
why it did so
without
investigation.
Who pressured
the IOS
Director to
act in this
way, and was
this pressure
linked to
Ottone
Ramirez's
close
relationship
with Audrey
Azoulay?
According
to our
sources, the
Director of
IOS, Bernardin
Assiene,
decided in
less than 24
hours to close
the file
without
investigating
or even
hearing what
the
complainants
had to say.
The complaint
and the IOS
Director's
decision to
close the file
are in the
archives of
this case, and
all it would
take is for a
member state
to request
access to the
closed file to
bring the
scandal out
into the
open.
Despite his
zigzagging
working
pattern, some
Board members
considered
Bernardin
Assiene the
“good guy”
after his
solid
investigation
of the case
against the
ADG for
Administration
Nicholas
Jeffreys, from
the UK, that
led to his
departure from
the Agency.
Assiene's
calculation
was different,
however. By
throwing ADG
Jeffreys under
the bus, he
not only
protected DG
Azoulay but
also paved the
way for
himself to run
for the ADG
job. If he got
it, it would
be
confirmation
that
everything had
been
premeditated
by Assiene in
order to
derive
personal
benefit from
his
professional
investigative
powers.
This is where
UNESCO stands
today, a UN
agency ravaged
by greed and
financial
misappropriations,
propitious to
the
flourishing of
abuse of
power,
corruption and
nepotism.
Watch this
site.
***
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