By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, February 16 – Some UN Departments have strayed so far from what they claim to do they should be broken up and salvageable functions re-distributed. So it is with the UN Department of Public Information under Cristina Gallach.
Under Gallach, DPI brought the UN into further disrepute by approving, without due diligence, UN events and "investments" by Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, now under house arrest facing prosecution for UN bribery in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. See UN audit, Paragraphs 37-40 and 20b.
After Inner City Press asked Gallach about her links to Ng Lap Seng and his South South empire, she had Inner City Press evicted without any hearing or appeal, letter here, audio here, NYT here, and keeps it restricted to minders for one year since and counting: it is ongoing.
Now this censor Gallach on February 15 appeared at a "UN" event with an airline which while held in the UN's Delegates Dining Room was otherwise unpublicized, other than by the airline itself. Exploiting the concept of the Sustainable Development Goal, Gallach has turned DPI into a machine for censorship, propaganda and corruption.
Other UN high officials, as Inner City Press has reported,“have been freaking out. They don't know how much is going to be cut, and from where.”
Here's a suggestion, based not only on Inner City Press' personal experience at the UN (NYT here) but also interviews with staff, diplomats and elected officials: if there is one UN Department to be cut, even eliminated, it is DPI.
Since Cristina Gallach of Spain took DPI over, the Department has been in decline, reaching the point where it used public fundsto pay a trainer to tell UN-accredited non governmental organizations that Detroit, Michigan is a "third rate city" in "flyover country."
Other UN high officials, as Inner City Press has reported,“have been freaking out. They don't know how much is going to be cut, and from where.”
Here's a suggestion, based not only on Inner City Press' personal experience at the UN (NYT here) but also interviews with staff, diplomats and elected officials: if there is one UN Department to be cut, even eliminated, it is DPI.
Since Cristina Gallach of Spain took DPI over, the Department has been in decline, reaching the point where it used public fundsto pay a trainer to tell UN-accredited non governmental organizations that Detroit, Michigan is a "third rate city" in "flyover country."
But UN holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Inner City Press, of Gallach, "Everything that this official’s done was done in accordance to the rules." Video here, UN Transcript (with Inner City Press asking why Dujarric was leaving without answering air-brushed out) here:
Inner City Press: last Friday, so a week ago, I sent in five questions. I haven't actually received an answer to any of them, but one of them was a very simple one, whether an official received approval to get an award in a personal capacity and… and spent UN funds to go and get it.
Spokesman: Everything that this official’s done was done in accordance to the rules.
Inner City Press: So…
Spokesman: Thank you.
Inner City Press: last Friday, so a week ago, I sent in five questions. I haven't actually received an answer to any of them, but one of them was a very simple one, whether an official received approval to get an award in a personal capacity and… and spent UN funds to go and get it.
Spokesman: Everything that this official’s done was done in accordance to the rules.
Inner City Press: So…
Spokesman: Thank you.
On February 14, Dujarric's also holdover Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq as Inner City Press asked about the use of UN funds called it "obsessive," on Gallach's UNTV - then an "a*hole" once the audio went off. Many changes are needed at the UN. Watch this site.
