Showing posts with label carlos garcia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carlos garcia. Show all posts

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Exclusive: UN Fraudulent Coin Offering With China and Ambassador UNacted On By Guterres and PGA


By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive; CEFC
UN GATE, Sept 28 – A UN diplomat who helped previously UN briber Francis Lorenzo launder money, Carlos Garcia, was never disciplined as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is focused on covering up his own links to UN bribery. Today Inner City Press can report that Carlos Garcia is still misusing the UN name, selling fraudulent coins in South Korea. Allowing this is the fault of Guterres, the most corrupt Secretary General in the UN's history.
  At the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Inner City Press covered the first UN bribery case and reported on Garcia's role pressuring the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic to not report and to allow passage of Lorenzo's bribe money. In the second case, Inner City Press reported daily on the prosecution and conviction of Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy which tried to buy the oil company of Gulbenkian Foundation which paid Guterres money he refused to disclose, choosing instead to rough up and ban Inner City PRess.
  Now reporting daily from the SDNY and the UN gate, Inner City Press during the UNGA high week it is banned from by Guterres is exclusively reporting a coin offering "World United Coins" in South Korea and elsewhere involving Carlos Garcia, the UN money laundering, stating it has the support of Antonio Guterres and President of the General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande who has joined Guterres in his censorship. See photos here.
  The website says, "The United Nations gives the World Unicom Certificate a high degree of development recognition," with a photo of Guterres with all his undisclosed Chinese bribery links. It says, " The newly elected 74th President of the General Assembly, Bandy, met with Charles LU on the evening of September 17th to congratulate the success of the Global Exchange on September 16 and highly recognized the World Unicom Certificate in the past year. In the amazing development speed and achievements in the field of digital finance, we recognize that WUC has earnestly fulfilled its founding mission and made a real contribution to improving the lives of people in developing countries around the world."
  Garcia's Instagram account says: "ambcarlosgarcia Today we had a great meeting in our office. Our co-Chairman, Mr. Charles Lu comeback from Beijing, and we met with two strategic representatives from OPAD, the Organization for Poverty Alleviation and Development, Mr. Peter Kamara , and Mr. Al Shek with a view to strengthening our collaborative efforts in promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. #OPAD #UNA-SV #pastorrodneyhowardbrowne #ElSalvador #SierraLeone."
  This UNA-SV group sponsors the fraudulent coins.
 These people should be arrested. All of them - to the very top. A fish rots from the head, and that's corrupt Guterres, the censor.
While UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was refusing throughout 2018 to begin any UN audit into China Energy Fund Committee, implicated in the UN bribery prosecution US v Patrick Ho, Guterres had a secret: his role on the board of Gulbenkian Foundation which was trying to sell its Partex Oil affiliate to CEFC. See Inner City Press' first exclusive report here.
   A now-removed Gulbenkian Foundation web page says Guterres continued as a board member into 2018. Archived here. In fact it was on 9 February 2018 that Gulbenian tweeted that Guterres was no longer on the board - AFTER it was reported that Gulbenian was trying to sell, or even had already sold, Partex to CEFC. This is called guilty knowledge.
 While Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric is refusing to answer Inner City Press' written questions, contrary to promises by Guterres' Global Communicator Alison Smale, it appears Guterres' evasive defense is claiming that he left Gulbenkian in November 2016 and therefore somehow had no conflict of interest in refusing and blocking the obviously needed UN audit of CEFC after the arrest of its Patrick Ho for UN bribery. This defense is dubious.
  Why did Gulbenkian take down its webpage disclosing that Guterres remained on board into 2018? Why - sixteen months after Guterres ostensibly left - did they wait until February 2018 to tweet that he left? Because their negotiations with CEFC became public (see 2 February 2018 Bloomberg here, and 6 February MacauHub here: "CEFC China Energy buys Portugal’s Partex Oil & Gas.")
  In any event, Guterres' "2017" Financial Disclosure, which explicitly says it covered the year 2016 in which even in this new story he remained on Gulbenkian's board into November, more than 80% of the year - did not disclose his role in Gulbenkian, only on the Club of Madrid. Guterres has had previous financial disclosure omissions, for example in Portugal, here. CEFC was hardly unknown: it bought a Portuguese insurance company in November 2017, here.
    Guterres' failure to disclose and, separately and even more so, his refusal to audit CEFC in the UN was a direct conflict of interest, which he has tried to cover up by roughing up and banning Inner City Press which asked him about it. (See January 2018 press conference here, July 2018 roughing up by Guterres' UN Security here, banning letter via Press Freedom Tracker here.)
Three times now Dujarric, his deputy Farhan Haq and Office of the Spokesperson colleagues Marcia Soares Pinto and Keishamaza Rukikaire, as well as Guterres, his chief of staff Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti and Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed have refused to answer this: "Beyond the 36 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer last week, still set forth below for promised answer, this is a reiterated request past deadline that you (1) state when SG Guterres left his position on the Gulbenkian Foundation, (2) state why Gulbenkian was not listed on SG Guterres' public financial disclosure which covered 2016; (3) explain how it is not a conflict of interest for SG Guterres to have refused to start an audit of CEFC in the UN, as requested by Inner City Press in January 2018, given CEFC's bid for the oil business of Gulbenkian. Also, again, state why under SG Guterres there have been no updates to the UN public financial disclosures since those filed for 2016. Also, again, explain your refusal to answer any of Inner City Press' questions this week despite USG Smale's statements to GAP, me and UNSR David Kaye." No response at all, even as spokesman Dujarric for example tweets at actor Seth Rogin. Dujarric, as simply one example, on 1 March 2018 evaded Inner City Press' in-person questions about CEFC and Guterres, less than a month after Gulbenkian said Guterres was off the board, amid oil negotiations with CEFC. Video here. Then Guterres and Dujarric had Inner City Press roughed up and banned from the UN. Guterres' wife Catarina Vaz Pinto also worked for Gulbenkian. This is today's corrupt UN.
   For years Guterres received money as a board member of the Calouste Galbenkian Foundation, which despite its name is the 100% owner of Partex Oil and Gas. Partex has operations in Angola, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Oman and Portugal. It was to a Portuguese court that Guterres, while justifying no listing some of his income, disclosed in 2016 that he was paid at least € 2735 per month for his position with the Gulbenkian Foundation.
   But while a now deleted Foundation web page (archived here) stated that Guterres continued with Gulbenkian into 2018, Guterres did not list it on his most recent, and so far lone, UN Public Financial Disclosure, which covered 2016 ("Disclosing financial and other interests for the 2016 reporting year").
  So why did Guterres disclose his position with the Club of Madrid, but not with the Gulbenkian Foundation / Partex Oil and Gas? It is worth noting that Guterres' wife Catarina Vaz Pinto has also been connected to Gulbenkian.
   Following the roughing up and banning from the UN of Inner City Press which has covered the CEFC scandal throughout, Guterres' head of Global Communications Alison Smale promised UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression David Kaye, who asked, that the UN would still answer Inner City Press' written questions.
   But as 2018 came to a close Guterres' spokesmen Stephane Dujarric and Farhan Haq left unanswered 36 questions in a row from Inner City Press, including this: “Beyond the 35 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer this week, this is a request on deadline that you (1) state when SG Guterres left his position on the Gulbenkian Foundation,
(2) state why Gulbenkian was not listed on SG Guterres' public financial disclosure which covered 2016;
(3) explain how it is not a conflict of interest for SG Guterres to have refused to start an audit of CEFC in the UN, as requested by Inner City Press in January 2018, given CEFC's bid for the oil business of Gulbenkian.
Also, again, state why under SG Guterres there have been no updates to the UN public financial disclosures since those filed for 2016. Also, again, explain your refusal to answer any of Inner City Press' questions this week despite USG Smale's statements to GAP, me and UNSR David Kaye. On deadline.”

   The question was also sent to the e-mail addresses of Guterres, his chief of staff Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed, and Smale, who earlier in the week told Inner City Press she would take “under advisement” her 17 August 2018 pretextual withdrawal of Inner City Press decade long UN media accreditation.
  It seems clear that Guterres and his team have engaged in censorship for corruption, to conceal a blatant conflict of interest by Guterres. It has been raised by Inner City Press to the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, and others.  Watch this site.

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

UN Accessed By Diplomat Who Helped Briber Ng Lap Seng Pay Lorenzo and UN Covers It Up Like Ho, CEFC


By Matthew Russell Lee, Video here & here
UNITED NATIONS, August 28– After the UN was exposed as having been bought and corrupted by Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, convicted less than a month ago on six counts of UN bribery, money laundering and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, what has changed? Very little: on June 8, Inner City Press saw at the UN General Assembly stakeout the former El Salvador Ambassador Carlos Garcia, who was shown in the Ng Lap Seng trial to have used his diplomatic position to lobby Dominican Republic bank regulators to stop investigating and let through $50,000 from Ng to Francis Lorenza, who pleaded guilty. So an hour later on June 8 Inner City Press asked Stephane Dujarric the spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who has yet to commission an audit into the second, large UN bribery case of Patrick Ho and CEFC, about Garcia, video here,UN transcript here: Inner City Press: at the GA [General Assembly] stakeout, after the… the vote, this is something… I had asked you before once about the… the previous Permanent Representative of El Salvador, Carlos García, took part in some GMO [genetically modified organisms] meeting in ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council].  You may or may not remember that one.  The reason I'm asking you… I saw him… he was there speaking with the current… I believe the current [Permanent Representative] of El Salvador.  My question is, in the Ng Lap Seng trial that took place last summer, they showed on the screen a… a correspondence by him to the Dominican banking authorities, basically saying let this $50,000 go from Ng Lap Seng to Francis Lorenzo.  So, it seemed pretty clear.  Maybe the Government chose not to go after him… to pursue the case because he was an ambassador, but it seemed very clear that he was involved in the… the initiative of South-South with Ng Lap Seng to give money to Francis Lorenzo to obtain these various favours.  So, I guess my question is, is it automatic that a former Permanent Representative keeps a pass to come in, or is he in the building in some other capacity?

Spokesman:  I don't know under what capacity he was in the building.

Inner City Press:  How would one find that out?

Spokesman:  If I can find out, I will." Then no answer; Dujarric's office called end of day and week lid. Back on 25 August 2017
 Secretary General Antonio Guterres was listed as a speaker at an absurd event in the ECOSOC Chamber, promoted by the UN Correspondents Association, by a group that had plead-guilty Francis Lorenzo and demonstrated money laundering helper Carlos Garcia at its founding. Here is a video shown at the event making outlandish claims about the only recently founded WOGC group.

After Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric again refused to answer questions, Inner City Press which can no longer stakeout ECOSOC without a UN "minder" instead went to Periscope and take photos. It witnessed, and raised, that Carlos Garcia himself was in ECOSOC, here - but he left once he was photographed. The highest levels of the UN know about this. Inner City Press has asked Guterres' spokesman Dujarric, including again on August 28: "Beyond the still unanswered vetting questions below, about the canceled WDF/Suriname event and the one allowed to go forward on Friday - who PAID the UN for UNTV, security etc on Friday? How was WOGC vetted, including specifically its relation with Carlos Garcia? What is the status of former El Salvador PR Garcia, given what was shown about his action for Francis Lorenzo and Ng Lap Seng in Ng's trial, in the UN?" Dujarric purported to respond to two other questions, but removed this one from his response. It's called a cover-up. At the UN General Assembly on August 28, a rogue UN Security supervisor ordered Inner City Press to stop filming from the stakeout, without giving his name. At the August 25 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Guterres' holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you again about this event that's now, is going forward.  It's in the Journal.  It will be televised.  And I'd asked you yesterday whether this World Organisation of Governance and Competitiveness… how it was vetted, and I didn't get an answer from you, so I want to ask you…Spokesman:  I don't have any more to, I don't have any information to share on that.  I'll check
... Inner City Press:  It's beginning at 1:00. Spokesman:  The SG is not participating. Inner City Press:  Right.  But my question is this.  I went and looked up… Spokesman:  It's sponsored, I think, by a Permanent Mission. Inner City Press:  It's listed, the Journal itself says World Organisation of Governance and Competitiveness.  So, I searched the ECOSOC database and… I just want to ask you because… when you answer on this.  It was only formed in 2016, and yet it says it's an ECOSOC member organisation.  That's how it's sponsoring, and, I believe, paying for part of this event.  And when you go to the ECOSOC documents, it basically took over the name of another group called World of Hope International. And so many people that work in this field… there's a lot of controversy about the NGO committee in ECOSOC, but how can a group sneak under the radar by buying a name?  And I would like just to know from you, who's paying for the event?  And what connection does Carlos Garcia-- Spokesman:  You should ask, that's a question, I mean, I will look… Inner City Press:   No, no, it's the UN.  Who's paying the UN… Spokesman:  You should ask… Inner City Press:  Who's transferring money to the UN?
Spokesman:  …"ask the organisers as well." That's called passing the buck. The group emphasizes it is accredited to ECOSOC. But the May 2017 document, under its name, is all about "World of Hope International," here. We'll have more on this. UN Spokesman Dujarric, who previously evicted Inner City Press as it covered the Ng Lap Seng scandal and still restricts it, has not answered.
While the spokesmen for Guterres evade the questionsasked by Inner City Press, for example about the UN rewarding Ng for his South South News' coverage of Ban Ki-moon's Central America trip in 2015, murky uses of the UN and its building, movement inside which Inner City Press is still restricted for its anti-corruption coverage, continue. 
 For example, on August 23-24 the UN General Assembly Hall was scheduled be taken over by an NGO named “World Development Foundation” headed by Guo Xiangang. After Inner City Press asked and wrote about it, it was canceled, with the UN ascribing the cancellation entirely to... Suriname, see below. Now on the same day, the UN Correspondents Association sends out an invitation to an August 25 event by the "World Organization of Government and Competitiveness" (WOGC), whose founding event, photo here, featured Francis Lorenzo (pleaded guilty to UN bribery) and is linked with Carlos Garcia (who helped Ng launder money in the Dominican Republic - email here, article here).Here is the video of WOGC's founding, featuring Garcia and other UN people - more on this to follow. UN Spokesman Dujarric has previously refused to state Garcia's status in the UN, despite clear exhibits in the Ng trial which ICP covered. So on August 24, more than 24 hours before the event, Inner City Press publicly asked Dujarric at the UN noon briefing, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: number of times I’d asked you about Carlos Garcia, used to be the former Permanent Representative of El Salvador.  And, in the Ng Lap Seng case, he was shown to have assisted in the laundering of money between Ng Lap Seng and Francis Lorenzo. So, I wanted to ask you, there’s a, there’s an event tomorrow in ECOSOC, which is a, sponsored by a group which is… is linked online and in its founding with Carlos Garcia.  And it’s listed in a press release that was put out yesterday with the Secretary-General planning to attend… attend… Spokesman:  What’s the event? Inner City Press:  It’s called “Road to the Future of Sustainable Development:  Moving from Commitments to Results through Inclusive Innovation.”  And it has a press release by the group WOCG, talking about life pods.  And it says there will be a statement by António Guterres. So, my question is, has this group, including its links to… in its very founding, to Carlos Garcia and Francis Lorenzo, been vetted by the UN? Spokesman:  Let me check.  I was not aware, I’m not aware of the Secretary-General participating.  I will look into it. Inner City Press: Whether or not he participates, I guess, my question is, given that these… these exhibits… Spokesman:  I’m not a, yeah, I know.  I’m not aware of the event.  So, I will look into…Inner City Press: Last time you didn’t answer it… Spokesman:  I did answer you. Inner City Press: Well, yeah, that evening when the NGO asked you to…Spokesman:  "I answered you. "This time, past 7 pm, nothing. A whistleblower forwarded this to Inner City Press: "UNCA is extending an invitation from the Permanent Mission of Zambia to the UN and the World Organization of Governance and Competitiveness to a High-level Global Meeting discussing 'Road to the Future of Sustainable Development: Moving from Commitments to Results through Inclusive Innovation,' taking place on Friday, August 25th from 1:30 - 6:00 pm in ECOSOC chamber. Sherwin Bryce-Pease, President, United Nations Correspondents Association." The promotion: "H.E Mr. Lazarous Kapambwe, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations, Mr. Cary Yan, President of WOGC, Special Guests include: H.E. Mme Marie Chatardová, President of the Economic and Social Council (tbc), H.E. Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General (tbc), H.E. Mme Lorena Herrera, Vice President of Honduras, H.E. Mr. Alvaro Colom, Former President of Guatemala, H.E. Mr. Kessai H. Note, Former President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, H.E. Mr. Francisco Merino, Former Vice President of El Salvador, Hon. Mr. Freidi Torres, Former President of Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Panama." The press release says Antonio Guterres will speak. We'll have more on this. As to the WDF event, Inner City Press was urged to remove its reporting from the Internet - just as then UNCA president Giampaolo Pioli told it to remove an article about his renting of an apartment to Sri Lanka's ambassador from the Internet or get thrown out of the UN, which UNCA "leaders" and the UN in turn did - and to interview Suriname's Ambassador (we DO have questions). But the UN is covering up. The NGOs Dujarric refused to answer about have already been partnered with by the UN Department of Public Information, photos here and here; the now-cancelled event was still promoted in a DPI NGO newsletter sent out on the afternoon of August 23, with a greeting from DPI's Maher Nasser. Again, UNreformed DPI which views its role as pro-UN coverage cannot be allowed to evicted and still restrict the independent Press. We'll continue on this. On the now-canceled event, attendance list and junket offer below; voice mail after UN refused to answer, here, UN Spokesman's one-quarter answer, below; second voicemail here. In a third voicemail, an interview of with the Ambassador of Suriname, just as he was interviewed by South South News in Macau, was offered here. But Inner City Press' questions were and are to the UN, how it vetted the NGOs - UNanswered. Now a fourth voicemail, here, asking that Inner City Press take down article(s) - and, on August 23, the event was not taking place in either the General Assembly Hall, nor Conference Room 4. We'll have more on this. Inner City Press first reported on this group in May 2016, noting that the UN Department of Public Information was partnering with a group that at that time did not even have a website. This came after DPI's then-chief Cristina Gallach did no due diligence of Ng Lap Seng's purchase of events in the UN lobby and even its slavery memorial, then evictedInner City Press after it asked her about her links to Ng's South South Awards. The UN's holdover Spokesman Stephane Dujarric has been involved, including in both the eviction and continuing restrictions. On August 22, Inner City Press asked and e-mailed Dujarric about the August 22-24 event. Video here; UN transcript here: Inner City Press: there's an event this week in the General Assembly, and some of the sponsors are those who attended the Macau event sponsored and paid for by Ng Lap Seng in August 2015 just before he was indicted and arrested.  So, I wanted to know — maybe you can find this out today — it's said that it's going to be webcast.

Spokesman:  What's the event?  I don't, what's the event?

Inner City Press:  The event has to do with sustainable tourism.  It's sponsored by an NGO and two Member States, both of whom went to Macau.  So, my question to you is, you've said the things have radically cleaned up…What's the UN's role in the event…  Who's paying for the-

Spokesman:  I need… drop me off a piece of paper with information about the event and I will…

Inner City Press: I'm going to give you the email as well, the one about…

Spokesman:  Perfect.

Inner City Press: …Yiping Zhou and the one that you said you hadn't seen.

Spokesman:  Okay, thank you.
  Inner City Press immediately sent Dujarric as well as his top two deputies the Yiping Zhou email and some questions. Five hours later when he left, Dujarric had not answered nor even, as requested, confirmed receipt. After 8 pm one of the sponsors called Inner City Press, audio here. But the answer should come from the UN Secretariat, which had been asked eight hours previously. Inner City Press called the caller how to ask Dujarric, and Dujarric did respond to this NGO, emailing Inner City Press: "Dear Matthew, The event is sponsored that the Mission of Suriname. They are responsible for the content of the event and we have been assured that no one is being charged for this event. Sincerely, Steph." But this didn't answer the questions that Inner City Press had asked (while showing that Dujarric had received them - we'll have more on this, and this.)
New DPI chief Alison Smale will have to deal with all this - and clean it up. For now, this is how the UN under Guterres remains. Watch this site. Legal footnote: the prosecution of Ng Lap Seng was by Assistant US attorneys Douglas Zolkind, Janis Echenberg and Daniel Richenthal of the US Attorney’s Office, David Last, on detail with the criminal division fraud section's FCPA unit, and Aashna Rao and David Louison. There are (many) further exhibits they are supposed to disclose to the Press, through spokespeople Nicholas Biase and Dawn Dearden and DC. We'll have more on all this.

Monday, August 28, 2017

UN's Anti-Corruption Posture on Guatemala Undercut by Ng UN Bribery Inaction, Censorship


By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 28 – Today's UN presenting itself as a champion against corruption, as in Secretary General Antonio Guterres' August 27 statement about Guatemala, is more than a little ironic. Less than a month ago, Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng was convicted in the U.S. on six counts of UN bribery. Yet UN officials exposed in the trial as having helped Ng still work at the UN; there has been no accountability. 

When Inner City Press directly asked Guterres for his comment on the verdict, he refused to answer. His lawyers have claimed that the UN was the victim and should get paid. And on August 25, when Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales came to New York to meet with Guterres, simultaneously in the UN's ECOSOC chamber an event was allowed to take place sponsored by an NGO with multiple links to, for example, former El Salvador ambassador Carlos Garcia who was shown in Ng's trial to have helped him launder bribe money. Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric about these links before the August 25 event - and during it, written questions that have still not been answered. Dujarric had Inner City Press evicted from the UN Press Briefing Room - empty this week - and from its office, still restricted, for its pursuit of the Ng Lap Seng scandal. We'll have more on this. As to Guatemala, on August 25 media mostly Spanish and Inner City Press set up a stakeout in the UN Secretariat lobby, to afterward hear his views on Ivan Velasquez and the future of the CICIG. The meeting began at 5 pm, but it was well after 6 pm when Guterres came down to his waiting car and driver. Inner City Press asked, Que pasa con la CICIG? But Guterres merely waved. Moments later his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who declined to answer or even confirm receipt of written questions from Inner City Press, issued a canned read-out which "reiterated his confidence in Commissioner Ivan Velásquez.” Now on August 27, after not speaking at or even coming to the waiting stakeout at the UN, Morales has issued a video, on Twitter, declaring Valasquez persona non grata. Here.Guterres is with sheikhs in Kuwait; Inner City Press asked his spokesman Stephane Dujarric: "This is a Press request on deadline for the UN's / Secretary General's response to this, from Jimmy Morales of Guatemala. Also please explain why UN Photo still does not have any photo of the Morales / SG photo op online, and state where Yemen envoy IOCA is, if he is not in Kuwait (didn't see him in the photo). Inner City Press has more questions and will be submitting them for responses, while noting that Friday's question was not even acknowledged, much less answered. Please explain." He replied, "Statement coming shortly." Then, a tweet from Jeffrey Feltman's DPA: ".@UN Secretary-General shocked at announcement that Guatemala's President has declared @Ivan_Velasquez_ persona non grata." Shocked implies that Morales didn't raise this possibility in their long meeting on Friday. More to follow.

 More to come.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

After UN Sold to Ng, UNCA Promotes WOGC With Guterres & Garcia, Laundered For Ng


By Matthew Russell Lee, Video here

UNITED NATIONS, August 23– After the UN was exposed as having been bought and corrupted by Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, convicted less than a month ago on six counts of UN bribery, money laundering and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, what has changed? Very little: on August 25 new Secretary General Antonio Guterres is listed as a speaker at an event in the ECOSOC Chamber, promoted by the UN Correspondents Association, by a group that had plead-guilty Francis Lorenzo and demonstrated money laundering helper Carlos Garcia at its founding.

While the spokesmen for Guterres evade the questions asked by Inner City Press, for example about the UN rewarding Ng for his South South News' coverage of Ban Ki-moon's Central America trip in 2015, murky uses of the UN and its building, movement inside which Inner City Press is still restricted for its anti-corruption coverage, continue. 
 For example, on August 23-24 the UN General Assembly Hall was scheduled be taken over by an NGO named “World Development Foundation” headed by Guo Xiangang. After Inner City Press asked and wrote about it, it was canceled, with the UN ascribing the cancellation entirely to... Suriname, see below. Now on the same day, the UN Correspondents Association sends out an invitation to an August 25 event by the "World Organization of Government and Competitiveness" (WOGC), whose founding event, photo here, featured Francis Lorenzo (pleaded guilty to UN bribery) and is linked with Carlos Garcia (who helped Ng launder money in the Dominican Republic - email here, article here). Here is the video of WOGC's founding, featuring Garcia and other UN people - more on this to follow. UN Spokesman Dujarric has refused to state Garcia's status in the UN, despite clear exhibits in the Ng trial which ICP covered. A whistleblower forwarded this to Inner City Press: "UNCA is extending an invitation from the Permanent Mission of Zambia to the UN and the World Organization of Governance and Competitiveness to a High-level Global Meeting discussing 'Road to the Future of Sustainable Development: Moving from Commitments to Results through Inclusive Innovation,' taking place on Friday, August 25th from 1:30 - 6:00 pm in ECOSOC chamber. Sherwin Bryce-Pease, President, United Nations Correspondents Association." The promotion: "H.E Mr. Lazarous Kapambwe, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations, Mr. Cary Yan, President of WOGC, Special Guests include: H.E. Mme Marie Chatardová, President of the Economic and Social Council (tbc), H.E. Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General (tbc), H.E. Mme Lorena Herrera, Vice President of Honduras, H.E. Mr. Alvaro Colom, Former President of Guatemala, H.E. Mr. Kessai H. Note, Former President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, H.E. Mr. Francisco Merino, Former Vice President of El Salvador, Hon. Mr. Freidi Torres, Former President of Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Panama." The press release says Antonio Guterres will speak. We'll have more on this. As to the WDF event, Inner City Press was urged to remove its reporting from the Internet - just as then UNCA president Giampaolo Pioli told it to remove an article about his renting of an apartment to Sri Lanka's ambassador from the Internet or get thrown out of the UN, which UNCA "leaders" and the UN in turn did - and to interview Suriname's Ambassador (we DO have questions). But the UN is covering up. The NGOs Dujarric refused to answer about have already been partnered with by the UN Department of Public Information, photos here and here; the now-cancelled event was still promoted in a DPI NGO newsletter sent out on the afternoon of August 23, with a greeting from DPI's Maher Nasser. Again, UNreformed DPI which views its role as pro-UN coverage cannot be allowed to evicted and still restrict the independent Press. We'll continue on this. On the now-canceled event, attendance list and junket offer below; voice mail after UN refused to answer, here, UN Spokesman's one-quarter answer, below; second voicemail here. In a third voicemail, an interview of with the Ambassador of Suriname, just as he was interviewed by South South News in Macau, was offered here. But Inner City Press' questions were and are to the UN, how it vetted the NGOs - UNanswered. Now a fourth voicemail, here, asking that Inner City Press take down article(s) - and, on August 23, the event was not taking place in either the General Assembly Hall, nor Conference Room 4. We'll have more on this. Inner City Press first reported on this group in May 2016, noting that the UN Department of Public Information was partnering with a group that at that time did not even have a website. This came after DPI's then-chief Cristina Gallach did no due diligence of Ng Lap Seng's purchase of events in the UN lobby and even its slavery memorial, then evicted Inner City Press after it asked her about her links to Ng's South South Awards. The UN's holdover Spokesman Stephane Dujarric has been involved, including in both the eviction and continuing restrictions. On August 22, Inner City Press asked and e-mailed Dujarric about the August 22-24 event. Video here; UN transcript here: Inner City Press: there's an event this week in the General Assembly, and some of the sponsors are those who attended the Macau event sponsored and paid for by Ng Lap Seng in August 2015 just before he was indicted and arrested.  So, I wanted to know — maybe you can find this out today — it's said that it's going to be webcast.

Spokesman:  What's the event?  I don't, what's the event?

Inner City Press:  The event has to do with sustainable tourism.  It's sponsored by an NGO and two Member States, both of whom went to Macau.  So, my question to you is, you've said the things have radically cleaned up…What's the UN's role in the event…  Who's paying for the-

Spokesman:  I need… drop me off a piece of paper with information about the event and I will…

Inner City Press: I'm going to give you the email as well, the one about…

Spokesman:  Perfect.

Inner City Press: …Yiping Zhou and the one that you said you hadn't seen.

Spokesman:  Okay, thank you.
  Inner City Press immediately sent Dujarric as well as his top two deputies the Yiping Zhou email and some questions. Five hours later when he left, Dujarric had not answered nor even, as requested, confirmed receipt. After 8 pm one of the sponsors called Inner City Press, audio here. But the answer should come from the UN Secretariat, which had been asked eight hours previously. Inner City Press called the caller how to ask Dujarric, and Dujarric did respond to this NGO, emailing Inner City Press: "Dear Matthew, The event is sponsored that the Mission of Suriname. They are responsible for the content of the event and we have been assured that no one is being charged for this event. Sincerely, Steph." But this didn't answer the questions that Inner City Press had asked (while showing that Dujarric had received them - we'll have more on this, and this.)
New DPI chief Alison Smale will have to deal with all this - and clean it up. For now, this is how the UN under Guterres remains. Watch this site. Legal footnote: the prosecution of Ng Lap Seng was by Assistant US attorneys Douglas Zolkind, Janis Echenberg and Daniel Richenthal of the US Attorney’s Office, David Last, on detail with the criminal division fraud section's FCPA unit, and Aashna Rao and David Louison. There are (many) further exhibits they are supposed to disclose to the Press, through spokespeople Nicholas Biase and Dawn Dearden and DC. We'll have more on all this.