By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive series
UNITED NATIONS, May 16 -- While many try to insulate today's UN from the open corruption of the recent past of President of the General Assembly John Ashe, and of Francis Lorenzo who has pleaded guilty, there is continuity to this UN scandal. This includes a revival of the Ng Lap Seng's old "South South News" team, with El Salvador ex-Ambassador Carlos Garcia and others, even as those investigating this UN corruption are evicted and restricted, and those covering it up are rewarded.
Inner City Press has repeatedly asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Ban's links to the corruption scandal, including Ban's appearance at an event sponsored by the Francis Lorenzo registered group Global Governance for the UN Sustainable Development Goals.Q&A videos here and here. (Ban's UN's response was covered by the New York Times on May 14, here, here.)
On May 23, Ban's and Cristina Gallach's Department of Public Information partnered with another only recently formed group, which gave out $10 meal cards and it was not clear what else. The event was called "UN SDGs For World Development Conference at the UN" and it was sponsored and "produced" by something called the "World Development Foundation."
But what is that? In the room, UN Conference Room 7, was one Xiangang Guo, thanked by DPI and others for his largess. The flier listed a website, GlobalWDF.org - but it doesn't yet exist, it's still GoDaddy.
The organization itself was registered in August 2015, the same month it appeared as a sponsor at a DPI NGO conference featuring Cristina Gallach at UN headquarters. Gallach as described in the UN's own Ng Lap Seng audit did not due diligence of Ng's Global Sustainability Foundation before it sponsored a one man show in the GA lobby that Ban Ki-moon attended, and sponsored the UN's slavery memorial.
Now, after Gallach has at least twice retaliated against Inner City Press after it asked her about it, Gallach's DPI is partnering with the website-less GlobalWDF.org. We'll have more on this: this organization is "partnering" through Gallach's DPI with the DPI NGO conference that candidate Ban Ki-moon will attend in South Korea. Watch this site.
On May 9, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Dujarric about Ban's engagements with the new "Global Governance for the UN SDGs," which was registered by Francis Lorenzo and involves former Ng / South South News people. On May 10, Dujarric said to "ask Grenada," which they sponsored a March 2016 event in the General Assembly Hall.
But Inner City Press has found that the head of GG-UNSDG, Carey Yan - no native of Grenada - is listed in the UN Blue Book as a legal adviser at Grenada's Mission to the UN. Roosevelt Skerrit's Dominca has some similar representation, as we've noted. As noted, Francis Lorenzo who has pleaded guilty to bribery charges was the Dominican Republic's Deputy Permanent Representative. Inner City Press is digging into this obvious loophole, even as Cristina Gallach and Ban Ki-moon have ousted and evicted it. New story coming.
But Ban has been present at other events of those who have pleaded guilty to UN bribery charges, air-brushed out of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services audit. For example, Ban was at Sheri Yan's father's “one man show” in the UN Secretariat lobby, giving his blessing to the pay to play nepotism of the Global Sustainability Foundation's Sheri Yan, who has pleaded guilty to UN bribery charges.
As Inner City Press has repeatedly asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who vets these events? The UN must be reformed. But it is moving in the opposite direction, evicting the Press which asks the questions.
