By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 30 – 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. On May 30, Inner City Press asked Guterres' holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: I'd asked you last week about Cristina Gallach speaking in the GA, and you'd said it was in the context of being UNIS [United Nations International School] chair. On, I guess, 25 May, in… in Barcelona, she spoke as the Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General. She's listed in that capacity. Has this post been given to her?
Spokesman: I believe that is a post she holds until 30 June.
Spokesman: I believe that is a post she holds until 30 June.
Why? She did a farewell, with the UN's Censorship Alliance, before March 31. Are there other outright censors still lurking in Guterres' "new" UN? Inner City Press is still restricted, UNlike no-show Egyptian state media Akhbar al Yom to which UN DPI has tried to give Inner City Press' long time shared office. 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?
