By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 18 -- Contrary to what the UN says about freedom of the press, and despite a petition signed by 1300 people and opposition from the Government Accountability Project and several Permanent Representatives at the UN and members of Congress in DC, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on April 16 threw five boxes of Inner City Press' journalistic files out onto First Avenue. Photo here; video here and here (Periscope).
This followed eight of Ban's guards, at the direction of his "Public Information" chief Cristina Gallach, physically throwing Inner City Press onto First Avenue, and its laptop on the sidewalk, on February 19.Audio here.
In the case of Gallach and ultimately Ban Ki-moon, this is retaliation for Inner City Press' critical coverage of the UN including each's involvement in the Ng Lap Seng bribery scandal which so far was resulted in four guilty pleas.
Here is Ban Ki-moon's message in the August 2015 program for Ng Lap Seng's event in Macau, see page 2, at which UN staff and affiliates took and kept free iPads, a vice president of the UN Correspondents Association attended and Ban Ki-moon, here, gave and has never withdrawn his blessing:
"Macau SAR, China, 25 August 2015: I am pleased to send greetings to this High-level Multi-stakeholders Strategy Forum on Scaling-up Global
Support for South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the Context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda."
As the UN bribery scandal gathered force Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for an audit by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services of the Global Sustainability Foundation (GSF), David Ng Lap Seng's Sun Kian Ip Group and its affiliates including the "World Harmony Foundation" and South South News, among others.
The audit, completed early this year but first put online by Inner City Press, directly criticizes Cristina Gallach, the Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Information, for example in Paragraphs 20(b) and 37-40. She should have recused herself.
Instead Gallach has ordered the search and eviction of Inner City Press' files, on April 16. She has misrepresented it to UN Ambassadors of major countries including South Africa and to Nobel Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta.
She and / or Ban Ki-moon above her are so intent on permanently restriction Inner City Press' ability to cover corruption at the UN that they had there functionary head of MALU write to Inner City Press at 1:30 AM on the morning of the eviction, limiting the Press' ability to document the seizure of its files:
From: Tal Mekel
Date: Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 1:30 AM
Subject: Saturday access
To: matthew.lee@innercitypress.com
Dear Matthew,
Access on Saturday is 'exceptional' in nature (as Green Ps do not have access to UNHQ on weekends save for an official event being convened e/g. emergency SC meeting) and is solely for the purpose of over sighting the removal of your belongings.
You may bring with you one (1) individual, again on a exceptional basis.
Best, Tal
------------------------------
Tal Mekel
Acting Chief
Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit
United Nations - S-250
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 1-212-963-1504
Fax: 1-212-963-4642
@UNMediaLiaison
http://www.un.org/en/media/
Access on Saturday is 'exceptional' in nature (as Green Ps do not have access to UNHQ on weekends save for an official event being convened e/g. emergency SC meeting) and is solely for the purpose of over sighting the removal of your belongings.
You may bring with you one (1) individual, again on a exceptional basis.
Best, Tal
------------------------------
Tal Mekel
Acting Chief
Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit
United Nations - S-250
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 1-212-963-1504
Fax: 1-212-963-4642
@UNMediaLiaison
http://www.un.org/en/media/
Earlier on April 15, Mekel had told Inner City Press that a two-person film crew was approved. This was revoked at 1:30 am, precluding the crew. And yet...
This inordinate focus on ousting Inner City Press, while UN Correspondents Association board members have private offices and many write no articles, is all the more contrary to freedom of the press as Inner City Press on April 15 exclusively published documents of UN and Morocco fraud in Western Sahara, credited by 360, here.
Gallach, the highest UN official of Spain, has by her no due process orders BANned Inner City Press from covering even UNSC meetings on Western Sahara. This is retaliation and censorship.
On the afternoon of April 15 Inner City Press was told that it will be UN staff going through the files but that then they will be given to, and impounded for some time by, a third party or parties whom the UN won't even name to Inner City Press.
As one wag put it, maybe they'll just keep passing them along.
Gallach's Team heard on April 15 from Capitol Hill to maintain the status quo. Did they even tell Ban Ki-moon, his chief of staff or deputy? Is this what allows Ban Ki-moon to (try to) say, "That is not my decision"? We'll have more on this.
