By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 15 -- As the scandal unveiled in thecorruption charges against former UN General Assembly President John Ashe, Francis Lorenzo of South South News and others continues to expand, the compromised position of the UN Correspondents Association has come to the fore. The limited inquiry Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has requested from the Office of Internal Oversight Services will not get at this - nor at this:
Ban accepted an award, the "South-South Award for Women's and Children's Health," from none other than Francis Lorenzo, who paid UNCA, his colleague Vivian Wang who took photos with Mrs. Ban at an "UNCA Ball," and Antigua and Barbuda's then Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, here.
On October 15, Inner City Press asked UN Under Secretary General for Management Yukio Takasu and the UN's Controller why the UN's audit is so limited, and how they missed such circus-like corruption while claiming their narrow bookkeeping is in order. Video here.
As shown in the video, Takasu emphasized there is only so far the UN can look. But, Inner City Press asked, who paid for the plane tickets of Ashe's close protection? We'll have more on this.
On October 15, Inner City Press asked Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if Ban will return the award. From the transcript:
Inner City Press: The question I wanted to ask is, yesterday I was asking Stéphane [Dujarric] about some photographs that exist with the Secretary-General with some of the people named and even charged in the John Ashe case. And he’d said a lot of people take photographs; things happen. I wanted to ask you specifically about an award the Secretary-General received from, I guess, it’s called the South-South Award on Women and Children, and the photograph is a staged one… is, you know, a formal one, no photo-bombing, no selfie, of Mr. Frank Lorenzo, then-Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, Vivian Wang, who’s named in the papers as well. And I just wonder what, in retrospect… this is not something that will be captured by the OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] audit that was mentioned, because none of… those two groups are not involved in this, and yet Mr. Lorenzo is; the Prime Minister of Antigua who’s pretty much through the… that paper seems to have been receiving funds. Does an award like this get returned? How does the UN system analyse what happened in this instance, and what are the repercussions?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Well, we are analysing what’s happened by doing an audit of the various actions. So that is, like Stéphane has made clear, our initial step in the matter, and we’ll see where that leads. If it leads to any particular course of action or any recommendations for where we’re to go next, we would follow it at that point. But we’ve taken the initial step, and we’re just waiting to see what the results of that will be.
Inner City Press: There are other awards, but this is one in which the two groups Sun Kian Ip and Global Sustainability Foundation are not involved in any way, and yet one of the charged individuals is giving this award. So would there… is there an expansion of this OIOS request? Or how does this get looked at?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: First, we will see how this particular audit goes and we’ll see whether there’s any need for an expansion that the point. But first we’re doing the initial step, and we’ll take that to its conclusion.
Note: Lorenzo has been arrested; Baldwin is throughout the charge sheet and Vivian Wang was the money woman. But since this award was through IOSSC and SS-SCSD, Ban's limited inquiry will not get at it. We'll have more on this.
Spencer, Wang, Ban and Lorenzo, copy URL for source/ credit
While UNCA does not represent all journalists accredited to cover the UN -- Inner City Press for example quit the group in 2012 with another Executive Committee member and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access -- the UN gives it a privileged position, a large clubhouse on the third floor of the UN and, automatically, the first question at press conferences.
But is that appropriate, given that UNCA received money from South South News, “NGO 1” in the filing against Ashe? Not only did UNCA receive money from South South News: it gave the group an “UNCA award” at a ceremony at the high-ceilinged Cipriani's restaurant on December 15, 2011.
Inner City Press, which did not quit UNCA in fully ripened disgust in 2012, was present in December 2011 and witnessed, when Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came into Cipriani's, him being shepherded into a side room for photographs with Asian men in business suits who Inner City Press did not then recognize -- but now does.
UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when Inner City Press asked on October 13 about what it had seen, said perhaps Inner City Press had "condoned" it. Video here. But Inner City Press quit UNCA afterfinding conflicts of interest in it, and being "ordered" to not report on this. From the October 13 transcript:
Inner City Press: I want to ask inevitably about the revelations about Mr. [John] Ashe and Frank Lorenzo and others. And just as you… as the lead Spokesman, a person that travels around with the Secretary-General, how… what would you say to the photos that exist of the Secretary-General with David Ng, who was since indicted, and Frank Lorenzo and, particularly, in instances where it appears that groups that receive contributions from the two and then put them in a room to have photographs with the Secretary-General? Is this something that… how does the Secretary-General view this in retrospect, and what's going to be done in the future?
Spokesman: First of all, a photo of the Secretary-General with any individual should in no way be interpreted as a sponsorship or agreement. It's just a photo. The Secretary-General is very much a public figure, attends a lot of public events where there are a lot of people. Sometimes people come up to him and ask to have their photo taken. And it's done within the… within, obviously, the security constraints that need to be had. I think whether it's the Secretary-General of the United Nations or anyone in leadership position, you will find when you travel with them that a lot of people want to have their photo taken with them. Inasmuch as that is… we try to control that, sometimes it's difficult to do so. I think the Secretary-General is as shocked as anyone in this building at the charges that were levelled at these two individuals. And he's very disappointed at the accusations towards the United Nations.
Inner City Press: obviously, to business interests having an actual kind of formal handshaking one, I guess I'll just say that that is worth something to them. That's why they…
Spokesman: I'm not… I'm not debating that point… [cross talk] I'm just saying that having a picture of the Secretary-General with any individual should in no way be seen as a sponsorship, approval, making them BFF's or anything.
Inner City Press: I guess I just want to be more specific. If an event… and there's one that actually, as it turns out, I witnessed in Cipriani. If the Secretary-General enters a large space and is then taken to a smaller space for such photographs, what's the basis for that, as opposed to people with selfies? I mean, I understand what you're saying…
Spokesman: I think, you know, if you were there, then maybe you condoned the event as well. The issue is the Secretary-General attends a lot of events. Sometimes there is a VIP reception. None of it should be construed as anything as the Secretary-General having his picture taken with anyone.
Inner City Press: it's been a number of days now; I'm assuming that, if not you, OLA [Office of Legal Affairs], someone has read through this long FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] affidavit. And I want to just ask you again, because in it, it says that, after the… the… the official UN document about the Macau centre was procured, there was a separate payment to Mr. Ashe, separate communications with a UN official number one, who reissued the document as a… amended… revised for technical reasons, with the name of the company in it. And it seems to me, even before you waiting for an OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] investigation, the scope of which wouldn't touch that, who in the UN is actually… how does it work, first of all? Who… which part of the UN amends documents after they're released? Is it DGACM [Department for General Assembly and Conference Management]…?
Spokesman: Listen, I'm not going to talk about the specifics of the case. But it is clear that if the President of one of the legislative bodies in this Organization which controls the agenda, or a sponsoring country for resolution, asks the Secretary-General to amend a text, we serve as the Secretariat. It's not… it's… it doesn't entail sponsoring of what's inside that text.
While Inner City Press' answer to the spokesman's "if you were there, then maybe you condoned the event as well," is that Inner City Press quit UNCA
after finding conflicts of interest in it, and being "ordered" to not report on this, we'll have more on this.
On October 13, Inner City Press asked this follow up:
Inner City Press: I just want to directly ask you about the idea that it's sort of people struggling to get photos with the UN officials. There was a… there was a peacekeeping day concert that was… for which solicitation of… you know, sponsorship was sought by a group called World Harmony Alliance, and it had nothing… the group has nothing to do with peacekeeping, but they paid for day. They… they… in fact, the funder complained that he didn't get the promised photograph with Ban Ki-moon, but I wonder, what was… what's the UN's understanding when they take outside financial sponsorship for such a day? I mean, former UN official [Ibrahim] Gambari was seen with the same group taking photographs on the fourth floor in the Millennium Hotel. What's it all about? What’s happening?
Spokesman: What former officials do in hotels is really not of my purview.
Inner City Press: Sure. What about UN peacekeeping?
Spokesman: I would take a look at that actual programme, but I would expect every part of the UN to do due diligence when it partners with an outside organization. And just… I'll leave it at that.
On October 12, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here, transcript here:
Inner City Press: in light of these charges against John Ashe, Frank Lorenzo, and others, it's emerging that the Secretary-General, if not met, had staged photo opportunities with a number of the individuals charged. And I wanted to know, in looking at this, do you have some kind of a comment on how these occurred, particularly in instances where they may have been arranged by a third party, been arranged by an organization that invited Ban Ki-moon and then received funds from South-South News or others and then put the two together on photograph? Was that appropriate? And what would be your response to… to OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] looking at that or otherwise?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, regarding that, as you're aware, the Office of Internal Oversight Services will do an audit. They've been requested to do that, and so we'll be able to see whether there was any effect from either the relationship with these various groups, these two groups, the Sun Kian Ip Group and the Global Sustainability Foundation, and any of the monies received. So, we'll await what they have to say about any of this.
Inner City Press: But, given that Mr. Frank Lorenzo has been charged and he's now out on $2 million bail, he was head of South-South News, which spread $12 million, according to the documents, throughout the UN system. So, what was, how, what was the criteria used to choose these two NGOs and not either South-South News or International Organization for South-South Cooperation or South South Steering Committee on Sustainable Development? It seems like it's a very limited inquiry and…
Deputy Spokesman: It's not really an inquiry. It's an audit, and this is initial step. If OIOS feels like there is something… there's a direction which they need to go as a result of these initial results, they're certainly free to do that, but we needed to get the ball rolling and have an initial step forward so that we can look into what exactly is the impact of the monies and the relationship with these groups.
John Ashe at UNCA with former president, after and before Pioli
click photo for source / credit
Back in December 2011, shepherding Ban for this (compensated) photo op with dubious businessmen was Giampaolo Pioli, then as now the president of UNCA. South South News interviewed Pioli that night, bragging of the UNCA award it got / paid for, screenshot from video here.
(For context it must be noted too that Pioli rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona then granted Kohona's request as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to screen his government's war crimes denial film “Lies Agreed To” in the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium: this precipitated Inner City Press quitting UNCA, in full disclosure.)
How can UNCA be given first questions to ask about a scandal involving South South News, from which UNCA took more then to which it gave an award? And what are the other implications?
(In terms of Mr. Ng's desire for photo ops, Inner City Press is informed that he separately wanted a photo with US President Obama, and paid six figures to a middleman - who disappeared with the money. UNCA on the other hand, one wag noted, delivered Ban Ki-moon for photos at Cipriani's.)
UNCA, it should be noted, has been and is open to business interested beyond Mr. Ng and South South News. Another UNCA awards ceremony was sponsored by a company called “Acoona;” the Italian oil company ENI pays the group money.
But UNCA's South South News connection, given what has been disclosed and charged this week, should at a minimum and as a first step disqualify UNCA from first questions from the UN, and from the continuation of its role.
Consider: if it gave rise to criminal charges that South South News paid Ashe to get a GA document for Ng to show off in Macau, who about South South News paying UNCA, and UNCA delivering Ban for a photo op with Ng, that Ng could use for related purposes? We'll have more on this.
Wider, and going forward in this series, limiting UN investigation to OIOS - whose director of investigations Stefanovic has resigned, Inner City Press hereby exclusively reported on October 9 - looking at only two NGOs is laughable. The scandal is expanding: there is a pattern here, pattern and practice. Watch this site.
