By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 27 – A former UN official who engaged in corruption and censorship, Cristina Gallach, was allowed to speak about ethics, in the UN General Assembly Hall, to UN International School students on May 24. Now after Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesman told Inner City Press Gallach spoke in the UN only in the holdover capacity as chair of UNIS, Gallach has appeared on May 25 in her native Catalonia identified in Spanish as "Cristina Gallach, Secretaria General Adjunta de las Naciones Unidas, Consejera especial del Secretario General" -- still "Under Secretary General of the UN, Special Adviser of the Secretary General." Click here. Unless Gallach is (again) lying, this implies that far from working for accountability in the UN system, Guterres is BRINGING BACK officials found to have done no due diligence in the UN bribery case about to go to trial next week. Lack of transparency is one thing - corruption is another. We'll have more on this. Gallach stuck around New York for seven weeks after belatedly being out at USG of DPI on March 31, retweeting Ambassadors about Kyung-wha Kang, hoping it seems to land another job. USG of Censorship? On May 24, Inner City Press wrote to Gallach's partner in censorship, holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric: " please explain why Cristina Gallach was speaking in the UNGA Hall today and what was ever gone about the OIOS audit finding about lack of due diligence (of Ng Lap Seng, etc) by her as USG of DPI." There had been no answer by May 25 at noon, so Inner City Press asked Dujarric, UN transcript here, Inner City Press: Cristina Gallach spoke yesterday in the General Assembly Hall, so I asked you why was that.
Spokesman: She spoke, I think, at the, she spoke at the graduation of the UN school and she is serving as the chair of the UN school until the end of June. Thank you.
Inner City Press: And, I asked you, was anyone held accountable in the audit, the OIOS audit?
Spokesman: That is all.
Spokesman: She spoke, I think, at the, she spoke at the graduation of the UN school and she is serving as the chair of the UN school until the end of June. Thank you.
Inner City Press: And, I asked you, was anyone held accountable in the audit, the OIOS audit?
Spokesman: That is all.
NO one was held accountable. On March 31, the UN told Inner City Press, which Gallach evicted from the UN without hearing or appealafter it asked her about her links to bribery indictee Ng Lap Seng, that she had been replaced by Maher Nasser. But on April 1 Gallach continued to direct communications about Zbigniew Brzezinski to the Secretary General and his spokesman as "USG of DPI,"no longer her position. Was it just April Fools Day? The Officer in Charge and those who were under Gallach during her sordid tenure of censorship have been asked questions. Watch this site. On March 30 as the UN's then-outgoing now former head of Communications Gallach was given a ghoulish farewell toast, it was noted that of those UN officials leaving, her tenure has been the shortest, and the worst. Ban Ki-moon gave her the job in order to cut a deal with then-Security Council member Spain, and she nearly immediately let Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng buy his way without due diligence into illegal art shows in the UN, even sponsoring the UN's anti-slavery memorial. Audit here. After Inner City Press asked Gallach about her links with Ng Lap Seng, she had Inner City Press thrown out of the UN without any hearing or appeal. Then she had Inner City Press' files thrown out onto First Avenue, and put an Egyptian state media which rarely comes in, and never asks questions, in Inner City Press' long time shared work space. As she belatedly leaves, this must all be reserved.
The UN Communications "position will be filled by an Officer-in-Charge... while the process to find a new Under-Secretary-General for Public Information continues," the UN replied to Inner City Press on March 29. The day before, the same UN Spokesman had declined to even confirm that Gallach was leaving. On the morning of March 28 Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesman to state if the Under Secretary General of the Department of Public Information is leaving March 31 and the status of the recruitment" to replace her. Spokesman Farhan Haq replied, "We will announce arrivals and departures as they occur." Then later on March 28, forwarded not sent to Inner City Press, this: "UNCA will host a farewell reception in honor of Under-Secretary-General of DPI, Cristina Gallach, on Thursday, March 30th at 5:30 pm in the UNCA room (3rd floor, UN Secretariat Building, room 310). Food and wine will be served. Please join us for a farewell toast!" If it's farewell, she's leaving. Toasting what? Allowing into the UN with no due diligence the Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, as detailed in the UN's own audit at Paragraphs 37-40 and 20b? Evicting the Press without any hearing or appeal? The decline in media access? On March 29, Inner City Press asked among other things, "yesterday your Office replied, regarding the USG of DPI, 'We will announce arrivals and departures as they occur.' Now that your partner has arranged a farewell for this USG for March 30, what is the rationale for your Office refusing to confirm her departure and the status of recruiting a replacement?" The UN spokesman replied, "Regarding Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach, her position will be filled by an Officer-in-Charge upon her departure while the process to find a new Under-Secretary-General for Public Information continues." We'll have more on this.
On March 15, Inner City Press asked the UN's holdover lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: Is the head of OHRM [Office of Human Resources Management] still in place? I wanted to ask you that. I've heard that the ASG [Assistant Secretary-General] for OHRM is actually no long… and I ask because it's… they're the person who decides who can be punished and who can't. Are they…?
Spokesman: Right, right. I understand… I mean, I don't know if the outgoing… or if the person who was in that post is actually still there. And even if they… if a senior official is no… a person is no longer in the post, there's an officer in charge, and the process… the process continues.
Spokesman: Right, right. I understand… I mean, I don't know if the outgoing… or if the person who was in that post is actually still there. And even if they… if a senior official is no… a person is no longer in the post, there's an officer in charge, and the process… the process continues.
Hours later, Dujarric never confirmed this simple fact, about the UN official who decides who gets punished.
