In Corrupt UN of Guterres Office of South South Cooperation Chediek Spends $164000 Only Solheim Fired

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS GATE, November 25 – With UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres gone from New York with location and costs to the public undisclosed for four days and counting having praised the UN Office of South South Cooperation so recently exposed as a bribery vehicle in the Ng Lap Seng - President of the UN General Assembly John Ashe corruption prosecution, OSSC chief Jorge Chediek is scheduled for another press conference with Inner City Press which reports on his corruption still banned. In fact, the trial in the next UN bribery case, that of China Energy Fund Committee, begins the same day. So the night before, this exclusive update on OSSC and Chediek: In the wake of Erik Solheim’s forced resignation from UNEP after revelations of travel no worse than those of Guterres himself, questions remain over the travel of Jorge Chediek, Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation who racked up over $81,300 in travel in 2017. Despite the previous revelations, Mr. Chediek continued his high traveling ways, having spent in excess of $82,500 on travel by November of this year. In total, his travels for the last two years amount to nearly $164,000 criss-crossing over 30 countries, with over a month left before the end of the year. This list, exclusively:

JORGE CHEDIEK, UN Office for South-South Cooperation
Benin $ 5,390.00 $ 509.04
Switzerland $ 2,450.00 $ 1,272.00
Thailand $ 3,140.00 $ 975.53
Turkey - Kazakhstan $ 4,500.00 $ 1,091.24
Kenya $ 4,740.00 $ 1,210.72
China $ 5,270.00 $ 673.40
Brazil $ 5,950.00 $ 505.76
Argentina $ 3,520.00 $ 1,230.00
China - India $ 9,045.10 $ 1,420.90
Argentina $ 4,053.00 $ 1,168.32
France $ 2,424.50 $ 1,313.68
Germany $ 2,315.00 $ 1,030.00
Brazil $ 2,672.10 $ 815.50
Turkey $ 2,722.00 $ 363.00
Bangladesh - Hong Kong $ 7,800.00 $ 1,771.48
Hawaii $ 2,848.00 $ 337.80
Egypt - France $ 3,976.90 $ 2,283.00
Brazil $ 2,747.60 $ 822.17
Argentina $ 5,053.70 $ 909.52
Portugal - Spain $ 3,832.01 $ 1,698.16
Cuba $ 342.70 $ 848.94
South Africa $ 7,424.50 $ 710.39
China $ 5,429.00 $ 1,307.21
France - Norway $ 1,912.71 $ 1,603.60
Thailand $ 6,326.00 $ 1,262.83
Egypt $ 5,650.00 $ 983.92
India $ 3,882.21 $ 763.68
Iran - UAE $ 4,815.13 $ 1,146.72
Switzerland - Italy $ 4,914.83 $ 1,311.96
Brazil $ 2,481.31
Poland 4,671.63
  It is worth noting that Solheim was the head of a UN agency while Chediek has managed to spend this sizeable sum merely as head of an Office. The public censure has not slowed his ambitions to campaign for a coveted ASG post in the least; he continues the campaigning disguised as preparations for the March 2019 BAPA+40 conference. Travel records backed up by his Facebook posts reveal that he is not one to cave in to any criticism on excessive spending.

This is egregious misappropriation of agency funds in the context of overall funding shortages at the United Nations Developmet Programme that allocated $3.5 million annually OSSC. As Mr. Chediek continues to rack up air miles, who in UNDP approves travel for the second most globetrotting UNDP official? What percentage of OSSC budget is dedicated to travel? Why is this information not publicly available? What are the development gains as a result of these baseless travels? Moreover, it again raises questions  over the prudence of cash strapped Argentina, now under austerity measures, to be spending millions on Mr. Chediek’s BAPA+40 conference.

These issues will be highlighted at the annual UNOSSC Global Expo, slated for the end of this week (November 28-30) in New York. This three day conference will again consist of events which for the most part only nominally contribute to development. In reality, it is just another self promoting, expensive, photo opportunity event for Mr. Chediek and his cronies, with the endorsement of Secretary General Guterres and UNDP Administrator Steiner. For transparency reasons, ICP is requesting details on the budget of the UNOSSC Global Expo, including travel costs and details of those sponsored to attend this jamboree in New York. 

As recession looms in Argentina, its Central Bank raising its interest rates substantially in the past month and after the country announced it was turning to the IMF for a bailout, the government is set to spend millions of borrowed dollars on a wasteful UN conference on South-South Cooperation slated for March 2019 in Buenos Aires, to spend millions on an Office led by director Jorge Chediek whos aim OSSC sources say is to use this conference to advance to UN Assistant Secretary General level. His tenure at the Office thus far has involved a spate of self promotional travel while signing off on dubious Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) for projects that are only tangentially related to actual South-South development.
The MoU signings are often documented on the Facebook pageof Mr. Chediek, where he brags about the support from Guterres, who has refused to audit the next UN corruption scandal involving Patrick Ho the China Energy Fund Committee and had Inner City Press which reports on it roughed up and banned from the UN. 

Its collaboration with Yingke Group, started initially when current UNOSSC Deputy Direcor Grace Wang, a Chinese national, worked at BPPS. When she commenced her role at UNOSSC, this relationship traveled with her. This Yingke Group -UNOSSC collaboration is covered in a 30 May 2018 article entitled UNOSSC delegation discusses South-South collaboration with Yingke Group where it claims this collaboration "is designed to be one pillar of the South-South Cooperation Poverty Eradication Facility,aiming to utilize tourism as an instrument for poverty alleviation through improving infrastructure, generating local employment, increasing local income, and developing local capacities." But what is behind these buzzwords?

The large number of Mo Us also attest to the frequency of wasteful travelby Mr. Chediek. While million of Argentinians are subjected to austerity, the Government of President Macri has decided to invest millions in the ambitions of one man, Mr. Chediek. In addition to the Chinese nepotism, Mr. Chediek seems to have his own questionable connections. Recently, OSSC sources complain, he hired an Argentinian national for a senior peace-building post and one whose brother is the founder and executive director of Brandling Latin America, a London based PR firm with royal connections through the company's senior director Lady Gabriella Windsor?

The Office continues to operate in highly questionable ways, giving rise to these questions: 'This Office of South South Cooperation is nested under UNDP, and provided with $25 million in core money from the UNDP budget. This budget is currently protected from any change in UNDP's financial situation. It should be noted that the budgets of the other UNDP-funded organizations, UN Volunteers and UNCDF - which had their strategic frameworks approved by this Board, and whose monitoring and evaluation frameworks are clear - are not protected. So... I) When will the Office's budget, monitoring and evaluation and results be reported to the [UNDP Executive] Board, and will this be for decision? 2) Will the Office start producing an annual report again, and when will this be available to the Board? 3) How is the Office working with UNDP's evaluation and audit offices? 4) Where will the Office's results be reported and collated? 5) How does the Office comply with UNDP's transparency requirements? We also note the Office's fundraising activities, and the very generous investments totaling $150 million this year by the Government of India.

   We'll have more on Guterres and this Office, in India and beyond. Amid record unemployment rates and long soup kitchen queues is BAPA+40 really a priority item for the Government of Argentina?  What is happening to the UN under Guterres, and his spokesman Dujarric who blocks and bans the Press? Watch this site.

Exclusive: UN Guterres Promotes Murky Office of South South Cooperation in India With Macri Boondoggle Next

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, October 2 – With UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres now in India, which he has praised for its support to the UN Office of South South Cooperation so recently exposed as a bribery vehicle in the Ng Lap Seng - President of the UN General Assembly John Ashe corruption prosecution, Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric has taken to blocking Inner City Press which reports on UN and Guterres' use of funds on Twitter. Here now an exclusive interim report on UN OSSC, even as Guterres banned Inner City Press from its press conference and the UN as a whole for 91 days and counting:

As recession looms in Argentina, its Central Bank raising its interest rates substantially in the past month and after the country announced it was turning to the IMF for a bailout, the government is set to spend millions of borrowed dollars on a wasteful UN conference on South-South Cooperation slated for March 2019 in Buenos Aires, to spend millions on an Office led by director Jorge Chediek whos aim OSSC sources say is to use this conference to advance to UN Assistant Secretary General level. His tenure at the Office thus far has involved a spate of self promotional travel while signing off on dubious Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) for projects that are only tangentially related to actual South-South development.
The MoU signings are often documented on the Facebook pageof Mr. Chediek, where he brags about the support from Guterres, who has refused to audit the next UN corruption scandal involving Patrick Ho the China Energy Fund Committee and had Inner City Press which reports on it roughed up and banned from the UN. 

Its collaboration with Yingke Group, started initially when current UNOSSC Deputy Direcor Grace Wang, a Chinese national, worked at BPPS. When she commenced her role at UNOSSC, this relationship traveled with her. This Yingke Group -UNOSSC collaboration is covered in a 30 May 2018 article entitled UNOSSC delegation discusses South-South collaboration with Yingke Group where it claims this collaboration "is designed to be one pillar of the South-South Cooperation Poverty Eradication Facility,aiming to utilize tourism as an instrument for poverty alleviation through improving infrastructure, generating local employment, increasing local income, and developing local capacities." But what is behind these buzzwords?

The large number of Mo Us also attest to the frequency of wasteful travelby Mr. Chediek. While million of Argentinians are subjected to austerity, the Government of President Macri has decided to invest millions in the ambitions of one man, Mr. Chediek. In addition to the Chinese nepotism, Mr. Chediek seems to have his own questionable connections. Recently, OSSC sources complain, he hired an Argentinian national for a senior peace-building post and one whose brother is the founder and executive director of Brandling Latin America, a London based PR firm with royal connections through the company's senior director Lady Gabriella Windsor?

The Office continues to operate in highly questionable ways, giving rise to these questions: 'This Office of South South Cooperation is nested under UNDP, and provided with $25 million in core money from the UNDP budget. This budget is currently protected from any change in UNDP's financial situation. It should be noted that the budgets of the other UNDP-funded organizations, UN Volunteers and UNCDF - which had their strategic frameworks approved by this Board, and whose monitoring and evaluation frameworks are clear - are not protected. So... I) When will the Office's budget, monitoring and evaluation and results be reported to the [UNDP Executive] Board, and will this be for decision? 2) Will the Office start producing an annual report again, and when will this be available to the Board? 3) How is the Office working with UNDP's evaluation and audit offices? 4) Where will the Office's results be reported and collated? 5) How does the Office comply with UNDP's transparency requirements? We also note the Office's fundraising activities, and the very generous investments totaling $150 million this year by the Government of India.

   We'll have more on Guterres and this Office, in India and beyond. Amid record unemployment rates and long soup kitchen queues is BAPA+40 really a priority item for the Government of Argentina?  What is happening to the UN under Guterres, and his spokesman Dujarric who blocks and bans the Press? Watch this site.

Exclusive: UN Corruption Under Guterres Has Office of South South Cooperation's Chediek Spending $144000 on Travel ,Rot at UNDP

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive CJR PFT

UNITED NATIONS, September 17 – The corruption in the UN system under UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres ranges from impunity for sexual abuse and harassment to double-dipping of benefits, to massive over-spending on travel by Guterres himself, by Erik Solheim and others at UNEP and, as Inner City Press will now be detailing in a series of articles based on leaked documents, in the UN Development Program and its Office of South South Cooperation. We start with UNOSSC because after exposing how it was used by convicted UN briber Ng Lap Seng, a corrupt censorship order by Guterres and his Global Communicator Alison Smale resulted last week in Inner City Press remaining banned from a press conference by OSSC director Jorge Chediek, who was then invited by the resident correspondents present to say that te Office's corruption has been "fabricated." Video here. 

This is the UN of Guterres, who has taken 15 publicly funded junkets to Lisbon on which his spokesman Stephane Dujarric has refused to answer or disclose the costs. And this is Chediek's spending on travel, exclusive leaked document here. Chediak has undertaken 27 trips, costing nearly $145,000. The issue of Mr. Chediek' s travel has been raised previously by Inner City Press. In a 10 April 2017 article, Inner City Press wrote that the director "devotes his time to useless travel promoting books already 'launched' in New York and to pitching the conference that would give him his ASG post." In the lead up to BAPA+40, a majorinternational conference to be paid for and hosted by the bankrupt Argentine government, he seems to be doing just that, including bragging about this meeting with Guterres' Global Censor Alison Smale who has not provided any due process, nor made the UN's minimal public financial disclosure. In a recent example of the excessive travels undertaken by the staff of this questionable Office, a conference in China saw a total of four staff from New York, all Chinese nationals, accompany Mr. Chediek. Despite this undeniable waste, and in the context of
considerable strain on UNDP' s core funding, the Office for South-South Cooperation has
managed to escape all budgetary cuts. The Office continues to receive $3.5 million and a
similar amount for staff salaries annually as core funding from UNDP for the 2018 -
2021 period. More on Chediek's travel, in a series to be carried out down the line at UNDP, with Air Ticket the first column and "Allowance" the second :
JORGE CHEDIEK, UN Office for South-South Cooperation $ 144,298.82
Benin $ 5,390.00  $ 509.04
Switzerland $ 2,450.00 $ 1,272.00
Thailand $ 3,140.00 $ 975.53
Turkey - Kazakhstan $ 4,500.00 $ 1,091.24
Kenya $ 4,740.00 $ 1,210.72
China $ 5,270.00 $ 673.40
Brazil $ 5,950.00 $ 505.76
Argentina $ 3,520.00 $ 1,230.00
China - India $ 9,045.10 $ 1,420.90
Argentina $ 4,053.00 $ 1,168.32
France $ 2,424.50 $ 1,313.68
Germany $ 2,315.00 $ 1,030.00
Brazil $ 2,672.10 $ 815.50
Turkey $ 2,722.00 $ 363.00
Bangladesh - Hong Kong $ 7,800.00 $ 1,771.48
Hawaii $ 2,848.00 $ 337.80
Egypt - France $ 3,976.90 $ 2,283.00
Brazil $ 2,747.60 $ 822.17
Argentina $ 5,053.70 $ 909.52
Portugal - Spain $ 3,832.01 $ 1,698.16
Cuba $ 342.70 $ 848.94
South Africa $ 7,424.50 $ 710.39
China $ 5,429.00 $ 1,307.21
France - Norway $ 1,912.71 $ 1,603.60
Thailand $ 6,326.00 $ 1,262.83
Egypt $ 5,650.00 $ 983.92
India $ 3,882.21 $ 763.68
  Yes, a total of over $144,000. But there's worse at UNDP - watch this site. Since Guterres had Inner City Press roughed up on and banned since July 3, it cannot ask about this at the UN noon briefing as it has in the past, back to the time of Kofi Annan. But it has asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who Guterres' Communicator Alison Smale said would answered - but didn't: "August 27-3: Please state the Secretariat's and DSG / Development System's knowledge of dual citizen staff getting US Tax reimbursement and also Home Leave and Education grant entitlements using their national/original passport - and what is being done about it." No answer at all, 23 hours after the briefing in which Dujarric claimed the ban is for being in a parking lot making some diplomats and UN officials uncomfortable. (Isn't that a journalist's job?) On August 28, Dujarric wrote to Inner City Press regarding the question, "I WILL HAVE A COMMENT LATER ON THIS ISSUE." But now two days later, nothing. Instead, from within UNDP, an all-staff email referencing Inner City Press' story, leaked to Inner City Press: "From: UNDP Bulletin
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 5:06:13 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
To: All Staff UNDP Global
Subject: Update on Staff Benefits
Dear Colleagues,
You may have seen a press article published this week which alleges that a number of UNDP staff are improperly receiving benefits related to their expatriate status as internationally recruited staff.
Given our duty of care to staff and to the organization, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you regarding the situation.
Firstly, it is important to recognize that UNDP is a rules-based organization. For the benefit of its stakeholders, its staff, and the people it serves, UNDP recognizes it is of the utmost importance that administrative rules are applied consistently and fairly. In recognition of that principle, and as standard procedure, UNDP regularly screens for compliance with administrative rules.
Secondly, as part of that screening, UNDP had already commissioned an independent review by the UN Secretariat’s Office of Human Resources Management to ensure the fair and consistent application of rules related to eligibility for UNDP headquarters staff who are internationally recruited and receive related entitlements and benefits.
Thirdly, I would like to emphasize that there is no evidence nor any suggestion that any member of UNDP staff has acted inappropriately or dishonestly. OHR, on behalf of UNDP, will continue to ensure that rules and procedures are applied properly and correctly, in this, as in all other cases.
With my best regards,
Michele Candotti
Chief of Staff & Director of the Executive Office."
  But as whistleblowers point out, "Of course they have to say that because so many high level staff are also taking home leave benefits they don't have right to. Many of us hope you won't let this story go. You must press Steiner and the high level ppl listed in that chart you posted to respond to your questions and ask the top man at HR David Bearfield to explain how these ppl take home leave when Staff Rule 4.5 (d) says they can't. This is wrong." So is Guterres' outrageous targeting, roughing up and banning of Inner City Press to try to cover up his UN's corruption.

Here they are, with names unredacted as no responses at all to questions asked in three days ago to Guterres' Team, including on WOGC, connected to imprisoned UN briber Ng Lap Seng's Carlos Garcia, dealing in Kiribati with the UN, separate exclusive here, now this: "Dear Matthew, While UNDP and all UN agencies are suffering from the budget problem, some dishonest UNDP staff are taking two entitlements using their two passports interchangeably against the UNDP benefits entitlement rules.  As a US Citizen, they get US Tax reimbursement; they also get Home Leave and Education grant entitlements using their national/original passport.  It is sad to see UNDP’s senior staff participated in this fraud, as you can see from below Atlas record these staffs grade is from P4 – D2.  Predominantly, Ana Patricia ALVAREZ, and  Shazma Nathwani, the  HR Advisors also participated in this scam.   Some of the staff got more than $100,000 with this ongoing problem, e.g. Shazma Nathwani, $168,000. HR Staff have identified this issue early this year and reported to the HR Director and BMS Director but no action taken.  All UNDP staff in HQ knows this problem but had no other choice fear of retaliation, because of these people close relationship with UNDP senior management including their network.  We need your help...

ATLAS Record - List of Staffs with inappropriate  multiple benefits
No     Name     Title     Current Location     Level     Country-Place of Home Leave      Nationality Types     Douale payments made
1      ALVAREZ, Ana Patricia     HR Business Partner Central Bureaus, HQ/BMS/OHR     UNDP - New York     P-5     Honduras     Honduras- official     Home Leave and Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
2      ASSAF, Dena     Deputy Director, HQ/UNDOCO     UNDP - New York     D-2     Palestine     Palestine - official     Home Leave
                                    USA - Tax    
3      BRANT Heather     Chief of Section, HQ/Evaluation Office     UNDP - New York     P-5     Switzerland     Switzerland - official     Home Leave and Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
4      ALAIN Noudehou     Chief of Staff & Director, Executive Office, CO/SS     South Sudan     D-2     Benin     Benin - official     Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
5      ORUC  Yesim     Deputy  Director, HQ/BERA/LO/Washington     Washington     P-5     Tureky     Turkey - official     Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
6      REIMOV, Ajmiyaz     Programme Analyst (Research), HQ/BPPS     UNDP - New York     P-2     Uzbekistan     Uzbekistan - official     Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
7      RUSSELL, Andrew     UN Development Coordinator, HQ/BMS/OHR     UNDP - New York     D-1     Canada     Canada - official     Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
8      SERENYI Peter     Policy Specialist, HQ/UNDOCO     UNDP - New York     P-4     Hungary     Hungary - official     Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
9     SHAMASH-LADD Hamutal Esther     Legal Specialist     UNDP - New York     P-4     Israel     Israel - official     Home Leave
                                    USA - Tax    
10      UNGUREANU Carla     Human Resources Analyst, HQ/BMS/OHR     UNDP - New York     P-2     Peru     Peru - official     Home Leave
                                    USA - Tax    
11      JUHKAM Robert     Team Leader, HQ/BERA     UNDP - New York     P-5     Estonia     Estonia - official     Home Leave and Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
12      KINSLEY Sharon     Deputy Chief of Staff & Deputy Director     UNDP - New York     D-1     UK     UK - official     Home Leave and Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
13      LINOU Natalia     Policy Specialist, HQ/BPPS     UNDP - New York     P-4     Greece     Greece - official     Home Leave and Education Grant
                                    USA - Tax    
14      NATHWANI Shazma     Human Resources Specialist, HQ/BMS/OHR     UNDP - New York     P-4     Australia     Australia - Official     Home Leave
                                    USA - Tax     A
Regards,

UNDP Staffers

We'll have more on this.