In 1st UN Bribery Case, Ng's Yin Gets 7 Months in Prison, 2nd Diplomat Helped Terra Trading

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video, Q&A, HK here

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 – Seven months after the UN bribery convictions of Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, his assistant Jeffrey Yin on February 28 wassentenced to seven months in prison. Duringthe two hour sentencing argument, repeated reference was made to Yin's role in wiring money from Ng's Chinese bank to Terra Trading in Francis Lorenzo's Dominican Republic. As Inner City Press reported, El Salvador's Ambassador Carlos Garcia wrote a letter supporting the now clearly corruption transfer - and yet he is still involved in UN "Sustainable Development Goals" circles. 

According to the narrative of Yin's lawyer Sabrina Shroff, Yin only went to work for Ng's son in order to be closer to his own father, incarcerated by the Chinese government. Ng "poached" Yin from his son, and ordered him to arrange the wire transfers, and pay $20,000 in cash in a bag in Manhattan. As exposed in the Southern District of New York, the UN is a place that can be bought, and cheap - and then evicts and restricts the Press which covers it. See 9 minute video, in front of the courthouse before and after the sentencing here. Prosecutor Daniel Richenthal appeared understandably frustrated with Judge Vernon Broderick backtracking even on his sentencing to prison, after he already let Ng Lap Seng remain on house arrest even after conviction. More follow up at the UNreformed UN is needed. Inner City Press, which covered the Ng UN bribery scandal, got evicted from the UN for its troubles and is still restricted, asked long time UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Yin, Ng and the case on February 28: has ANYONE in the UN system been held accountable? Dujarric replied that those guilty of a crime were found guilty in court. But that is because of the UN's immunity, which it uses even now on sexual harassment charges in India, as it did for bringing cholera to Haiti. If anything, the UN is becoming more corrupt (see the Patrick Ho / CEFC case, below), and more willing to engage in targeted censorship of the investigative Press. As to Ng, his request for a meeting with consular officials of the People's Republic of China was largely granted. Even post-conviction, Ng is living in a luxury apartment a block from the UN, where he's received massages four to ten hours a day. The "Guidepost" guards he pays at first let him close the door and ate the masseuse's cooking; now the judge has said the door should be open. And this October 25 order, granting Ng's "request to meet with Mr. Yang
Zerui and Mr. Ma Chao in the presence of Defendant’s bilingual counsel, Ms. Xue Huang, is APPROVED, insofar as Mr. Yang Zerui and Mr. Ma Chao are appropriately accredited consular officers from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China. To the extent there is a question concerning whether or not Mr. Yang Zerui and/or Mr. Ma Chao are appropriately accredited consular officers from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, prior to such meeting, Defendant’s counsel must obtain and provide to the Government written confirmation from the United States Department of State or other appropriate authority of the consular credentials of Mr. Yang and Mr. Ma.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant’s counsel must report any untoward discussions to the Court and report anything related to a possible violation of bail to the Court, the government and the Guidepost security team. " Right. A stated reason for the consular visit is to discussion the conditions of his detention, as well as "possible legal and diplomatic issues
raised in the case related to China." Meanwhile Inner City Press, which covered the trial (and was evicted from and remains restricted in the UN for pursuing still unacted on UN aspects of the bribery) has replied to the Freedom of Information Act response seeking to hinder its and the public's access to additional UN-related documents. Yet there is obstruction and delay at every turn in getting UN-related documents about this bribery case. Why? We'll have more on this. How corrupt and UNresponsive is the UN? Days after the indictment of UN President of the General Assembly John Ashe and Ng Lap Seng, Bangladesh's then-Ambassador Abdul Monem fled the US. As Inner City Press reported, Monem was involved in the scandal. He not only attended Ng's Macau event in August 2015 - after that, on September 6, 2015, Monem "urgently" emailed Francis Lorenzo who has pleaded guilty to ask how to insert the Macau "outcome" into a GA resolution. So he fled the US. And yet on September 28, 2017, as photographed by still-restricted Inner City Press, Abdul Monem was back in the UN, in the Security Council no less, for the open meeting on the Rohingya of Myanmar. On the morning of October 2, Inner City Press asked the UN's top three spokespeople, in writing: "In the recent UNSC open meeting on Myanmar, former Bangladesh Ambassador Abdul Monem, who left the US within days of the indictment of Ashe, Ng and Francis Lorenzo, reappeared. Given what came out during the Ng Lap Seng prosecution, please state whether this former Permanent Representative kept his UN ID badge to access UNHQ or was newly credentialed, and separately what follow up the UN (OLA or OIOS) is making on what was exposed during the Ng Lap Seng prosecution. Requesting all answers by email, on deadline. Please confirm receipt." No answer. In the new / next UN bribery case, indictee Patrick Ho was denied bail on February 5, in a lengthy oral order that found the weight of evidence against him substantial. On November 20, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued an indictment against the head of the UN ECOSOC accredited China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC) Patrick Ho and former Senegal foreign minister Cheikh Gadio, accused together of bribing Chad's President Idriss Deby -- as well as, for Ho, of bribing former UN President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa, now as then the foreign minister of Uganda, since 2005, allegedly for the benefit of President Yoweri Museveni. On February 5, Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesman why CEFC is still in "special consultative status" with ECOSOC, transcript here (video here) and below, than ran to the courthouse. There, US District Court Judge Katherine Forrest asked Prosecutor Daniel C. Richenthal to describe the weight of the evidence. "How strong is your case?" she asked, to some laughter. Very strong, he said, adding that Ho has been emailing the "Shanghai-based Energy Company" (that would be CEFC China Energy) from MCC detention, to launch a public relations campaign. It may be backfiring: Judge Forrest in her ruling denying bail noted that if Chinese government press is describing the case as political, it would make fleeing and remaining in China all the easier. Richenthal said that Ho could travel to other places - he listed Chad, Uganda, Iran and Russia. The continued home detention of UN bribery convictee was raised by Richenthal and Judge Forrest, and not favorably. Gadio was alluded to as not yet indicted - he'd said to be talking about a plea - and Judge Forrest emphasized November 5 as the trial date. She said there was leave to re-apply for bail but said such an application should include what Ho's lawyer Mr Kim called the "context" of the payments. Kim said they including country-wide charitable and military aid. From a Chinese energy company? From the UN's February 5 transcript: Inner City Press: Patrick Ho, who is the head of the China Energy Fund Committee, is arguing again for bail today.  And the US, in opposing it, put it in writing that they've executed a search warrant at China Energy Fund Committee, the NGO's (non-governmental organization) offices in Virginia.  It seems the China Energy Fund Committee is still in special consultative status with ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) even as its offices are being raided and… and its head is in jail.  What are the procedures for… for…? Spokesman:  As far as I'm aware… you know, the consultative status of ECOSOC, as opposed to the DPI (Department of Public Information) status, is one that is managed by the Member States.  There is a committee of ECOSOC that is made up of Member States.  They give… they grant or deny consultative status to various NGOs.  I think we'll have to look… you can contact ECOSOC to see what the exact rules are, but my assumption would be that, if Member States grant, only Member States can take away." So, Guterres is doing nothing. On February 6, after another non-response by ECOSOC's chair, Inner City Press asked Guterres' and Dujarric's Deputy Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:  yesterday, the… Patrick Ho, the head of the China Energy Fund Committee here, was denied bail.  And in the… in the hearing, basically, the prosecution said and the judge said that she found weight to be given to the evidence that basically the NGO [non-governmental organization] was a front for bribery to Sam Kutesa and others.  So, given that… how this trial is going, I'm wondering, again, Stéphane [Dujarric] had said that the Secretariat plays no role in sort of following through and making sure that China Energy Fund Committee can't continue to say it's a… in special consultative status with ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council].  I've written to the ECOSOC chair now twice, 28 November 2017 and today, but I don't have anything back.  Is there any spokesperson for ECOSOC that can at least say what the process is? Deputy Spokesman:  There is a spokesperson for the President of the Economic and Social [Council], and I can give you that contact afterwards. Inner City Press: Because… because Brenden… oh.  Yeah.  Anyways, I'd written before to that same individual, and there was no response.  I'm just… guess I'm wondering, what is their… what is the… does the Secretary-General… given that trial that's now moving forward and what's coming out in it, does he believe in the same way that he has… asserting himself as to agencies on other issues, that he should maybe get involved to ensure that there's not a… a named briber saying that they're in consultative status with the UN? Deputy Spokesman:  "Well, UN bodies themselves have been dealing with the problems created by the China Energy Fund Committee in their own ways, but what you're talking about is consultative status that's granted by Member States through the Economic and Social Council, and that decision would have to be taken by Member States." Then Inner City Press emailed the alluded to spokesman, one Paul Simon. Hours later, nothing. In advance of the February 5, the prosecution in writing asserted that "since the Complaint was signed and Ho was arrested, the evidence of his guilt has only become stronger, as the Government has interviewed witnesses, executed search warrants (including for the Virginia office of the Energy NGO), and obtained documents from third parties." Tellingly, this Energy NGO, China Energy Fund Committee, is *still* in special consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council - and Guterres met with Uganda's Museveni, who is in the complaint, at the same AU summit where Guterres metSudan's Omar al Bashir, without issuing any read-out. The prosecution's letter cites the "President of the UN General Assembly (the “Ugandan Foreign Minister”). Ho also provided the Ugandan Foreign Minister, as well as the President of Uganda (who is the Ugandan Foreign Minister’s relative), with gifts and promises of future benefits, including offering to let both officials share in the profits of a potential joint venture in Uganda involving the Energy Company and the officials’ family businesses." On January 27, after belatedly dropping CEFC from the UN Global Compact, Guterres in Addis Ababa met Museveni, with Kutesa himself in Addis as well. Museveni tweeted a photo and read out -- "Met UN Secretary General @antonioguterres on the sidelines of the 30th AU Ordinary Summit in Addis Ababa. We discussed regional peace, UN reforms and support for refugees." Meanwhile, consistent his declining transparency, Guterres did not issue any read out. Did the UN bribery scandal come up? Or get further covered up? As Inner City Press pursues this story and others, Guterres and his "Global Communicator" Alison Smale, seen January 26 in South Carolina praising a Chinese airline while mis-allocating funds meant for Kiswahili radio, keep Inner City Press more restricted in the UN than no-show state media. This is censorship for corruption. 

In 1st UN Bribery Case, Ng's Yin Gets 7 Months in Prison, 2nd Diplomat Helped Terra Trading

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video, Q&A, HK here

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 – Seven months after the UN bribery convictions of Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, his assistant Jeffrey Yin on February 28 wassentenced to seven months in prison. Duringthe two hour sentencing argument, repeated reference was made to Yin's role in wiring money from Ng's Chinese bank to Terra Trading in Francis Lorenzo's Dominican Republic. As Inner City Press reported, El Salvador's Ambassador Carlos Garcia wrote a letter supporting the now clearly corruption transfer - and yet he is still involved in UN "Sustainable Development Goals" circles. 

According to the narrative of Yin's lawyer Sabrina Shroff, Yin only went to work for Ng's son in order to be closer to his own father, incarcerated by the Chinese government. Ng "poached" Yin from his son, and ordered him to arrange the wire transfers, and pay $20,000 in cash in a bag in Manhattan. As exposed in the Southern District of New York, the UN is a place that can be bought, and cheap - and then evicts and restricts the Press which covers it. See 9 minute video, in front of the courthouse before and after the sentencing here. Prosecutor Daniel Richenthal appeared understandably frustrated with Judge Vernon Broderick backtracking even on his sentencing to prison, after he already let Ng Lap Seng remain on house arrest even after conviction. More follow up at the UNreformed UN is needed. Inner City Press, which covered the Ng UN bribery scandal, got evicted from the UN for its troubles and is still restricted, asked long time UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Yin, Ng and the case on February 28: has ANYONE in the UN system been held accountable? Dujarric replied that those guilty of a crime were found guilty in court. But that is because of the UN's immunity, which it uses even now on sexual harassment charges in India, as it did for bringing cholera to Haiti. If anything, the UN is becoming more corrupt (see the Patrick Ho / CEFC case, below), and more willing to engage in targeted censorship of the investigative Press. As to Ng, his request for a meeting with consular officials of the People's Republic of China was largely granted. Even post-conviction, Ng is living in a luxury apartment a block from the UN, where he's received massages four to ten hours a day. The "Guidepost" guards he pays at first let him close the door and ate the masseuse's cooking; now the judge has said the door should be open. And this October 25 order, granting Ng's "request to meet with Mr. Yang
Zerui and Mr. Ma Chao in the presence of Defendant’s bilingual counsel, Ms. Xue Huang, is APPROVED, insofar as Mr. Yang Zerui and Mr. Ma Chao are appropriately accredited consular officers from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China. To the extent there is a question concerning whether or not Mr. Yang Zerui and/or Mr. Ma Chao are appropriately accredited consular officers from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, prior to such meeting, Defendant’s counsel must obtain and provide to the Government written confirmation from the United States Department of State or other appropriate authority of the consular credentials of Mr. Yang and Mr. Ma.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant’s counsel must report any untoward discussions to the Court and report anything related to a possible violation of bail to the Court, the government and the Guidepost security team. " Right. A stated reason for the consular visit is to discussion the conditions of his detention, as well as "possible legal and diplomatic issues
raised in the case related to China." Meanwhile Inner City Press, which covered the trial (and was evicted from and remains restricted in the UN for pursuing still unacted on UN aspects of the bribery) has replied to the Freedom of Information Act response seeking to hinder its and the public's access to additional UN-related documents. Yet there is obstruction and delay at every turn in getting UN-related documents about this bribery case. Why? We'll have more on this. How corrupt and UNresponsive is the UN? Days after the indictment of UN President of the General Assembly John Ashe and Ng Lap Seng, Bangladesh's then-Ambassador Abdul Monem fled the US. As Inner City Press reported, Monem was involved in the scandal. He not only attended Ng's Macau event in August 2015 - after that, on September 6, 2015, Monem "urgently" emailed Francis Lorenzo who has pleaded guilty to ask how to insert the Macau "outcome" into a GA resolution. So he fled the US. And yet on September 28, 2017, as photographed by still-restricted Inner City Press, Abdul Monem was back in the UN, in the Security Council no less, for the open meeting on the Rohingya of Myanmar. On the morning of October 2, Inner City Press asked the UN's top three spokespeople, in writing: "In the recent UNSC open meeting on Myanmar, former Bangladesh Ambassador Abdul Monem, who left the US within days of the indictment of Ashe, Ng and Francis Lorenzo, reappeared. Given what came out during the Ng Lap Seng prosecution, please state whether this former Permanent Representative kept his UN ID badge to access UNHQ or was newly credentialed, and separately what follow up the UN (OLA or OIOS) is making on what was exposed during the Ng Lap Seng prosecution. Requesting all answers by email, on deadline. Please confirm receipt." No answer. In the new / next UN bribery case, indictee Patrick Ho was denied bail on February 5, in a lengthy oral order that found the weight of evidence against him substantial. On November 20, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued an indictment against the head of the UN ECOSOC accredited China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC) Patrick Ho and former Senegal foreign minister Cheikh Gadio, accused together of bribing Chad's President Idriss Deby -- as well as, for Ho, of bribing former UN President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa, now as then the foreign minister of Uganda, since 2005, allegedly for the benefit of President Yoweri Museveni. On February 5, Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesman why CEFC is still in "special consultative status" with ECOSOC, transcript here (video here) and below, than ran to the courthouse. There, US District Court Judge Katherine Forrest asked Prosecutor Daniel C. Richenthal to describe the weight of the evidence. "How strong is your case?" she asked, to some laughter. Very strong, he said, adding that Ho has been emailing the "Shanghai-based Energy Company" (that would be CEFC China Energy) from MCC detention, to launch a public relations campaign. It may be backfiring: Judge Forrest in her ruling denying bail noted that if Chinese government press is describing the case as political, it would make fleeing and remaining in China all the easier. Richenthal said that Ho could travel to other places - he listed Chad, Uganda, Iran and Russia. The continued home detention of UN bribery convictee was raised by Richenthal and Judge Forrest, and not favorably. Gadio was alluded to as not yet indicted - he'd said to be talking about a plea - and Judge Forrest emphasized November 5 as the trial date. She said there was leave to re-apply for bail but said such an application should include what Ho's lawyer Mr Kim called the "context" of the payments. Kim said they including country-wide charitable and military aid. From a Chinese energy company? From the UN's February 5 transcript: Inner City Press: Patrick Ho, who is the head of the China Energy Fund Committee, is arguing again for bail today.  And the US, in opposing it, put it in writing that they've executed a search warrant at China Energy Fund Committee, the NGO's (non-governmental organization) offices in Virginia.  It seems the China Energy Fund Committee is still in special consultative status with ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) even as its offices are being raided and… and its head is in jail.  What are the procedures for… for…? Spokesman:  As far as I'm aware… you know, the consultative status of ECOSOC, as opposed to the DPI (Department of Public Information) status, is one that is managed by the Member States.  There is a committee of ECOSOC that is made up of Member States.  They give… they grant or deny consultative status to various NGOs.  I think we'll have to look… you can contact ECOSOC to see what the exact rules are, but my assumption would be that, if Member States grant, only Member States can take away." So, Guterres is doing nothing. On February 6, after another non-response by ECOSOC's chair, Inner City Press asked Guterres' and Dujarric's Deputy Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:  yesterday, the… Patrick Ho, the head of the China Energy Fund Committee here, was denied bail.  And in the… in the hearing, basically, the prosecution said and the judge said that she found weight to be given to the evidence that basically the NGO [non-governmental organization] was a front for bribery to Sam Kutesa and others.  So, given that… how this trial is going, I'm wondering, again, Stéphane [Dujarric] had said that the Secretariat plays no role in sort of following through and making sure that China Energy Fund Committee can't continue to say it's a… in special consultative status with ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council].  I've written to the ECOSOC chair now twice, 28 November 2017 and today, but I don't have anything back.  Is there any spokesperson for ECOSOC that can at least say what the process is? Deputy Spokesman:  There is a spokesperson for the President of the Economic and Social [Council], and I can give you that contact afterwards. Inner City Press: Because… because Brenden… oh.  Yeah.  Anyways, I'd written before to that same individual, and there was no response.  I'm just… guess I'm wondering, what is their… what is the… does the Secretary-General… given that trial that's now moving forward and what's coming out in it, does he believe in the same way that he has… asserting himself as to agencies on other issues, that he should maybe get involved to ensure that there's not a… a named briber saying that they're in consultative status with the UN? Deputy Spokesman:  "Well, UN bodies themselves have been dealing with the problems created by the China Energy Fund Committee in their own ways, but what you're talking about is consultative status that's granted by Member States through the Economic and Social Council, and that decision would have to be taken by Member States." Then Inner City Press emailed the alluded to spokesman, one Paul Simon. Hours later, nothing. In advance of the February 5, the prosecution in writing asserted that "since the Complaint was signed and Ho was arrested, the evidence of his guilt has only become stronger, as the Government has interviewed witnesses, executed search warrants (including for the Virginia office of the Energy NGO), and obtained documents from third parties." Tellingly, this Energy NGO, China Energy Fund Committee, is *still* in special consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council - and Guterres met with Uganda's Museveni, who is in the complaint, at the same AU summit where Guterres metSudan's Omar al Bashir, without issuing any read-out. The prosecution's letter cites the "President of the UN General Assembly (the “Ugandan Foreign Minister”). Ho also provided the Ugandan Foreign Minister, as well as the President of Uganda (who is the Ugandan Foreign Minister’s relative), with gifts and promises of future benefits, including offering to let both officials share in the profits of a potential joint venture in Uganda involving the Energy Company and the officials’ family businesses." On January 27, after belatedly dropping CEFC from the UN Global Compact, Guterres in Addis Ababa met Museveni, with Kutesa himself in Addis as well. Museveni tweeted a photo and read out -- "Met UN Secretary General @antonioguterres on the sidelines of the 30th AU Ordinary Summit in Addis Ababa. We discussed regional peace, UN reforms and support for refugees." Meanwhile, consistent his declining transparency, Guterres did not issue any read out. Did the UN bribery scandal come up? Or get further covered up? As Inner City Press pursues this story and others, Guterres and his "Global Communicator" Alison Smale, seen January 26 in South Carolina praising a Chinese airline while mis-allocating funds meant for Kiswahili radio, keep Inner City Press more restricted in the UN than no-show state media. This is censorship for corruption. 

In 1st UN Bribery Case, Ng's Yin Gets 7 Months in Prison, 2nd Diplomat Helped Terra Trading

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video, Q&A, HK here

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 – Seven months after the UN bribery convictions of Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, his assistant Jeffrey Yin on February 28 wassentenced to seven months in prison. Duringthe two hour sentencing argument, repeated reference was made to Yin's role in wiring money from Ng's Chinese bank to Terra Trading in Francis Lorenzo's Dominican Republic. As Inner City Press reported, El Salvador's Ambassador Carlos Garcia wrote a letter supporting the now clearly corruption transfer - and yet he is still involved in UN "Sustainable Development Goals" circles. 

According to the narrative of Yin's lawyer Sabrina Shroff, Yin only went to work for Ng's son in order to be closer to his own father, incarcerated by the Chinese government. Ng "poached" Yin from his son, and ordered him to arrange the wire transfers, and pay $20,000 in cash in a bag in Manhattan. As exposed in the Southern District of New York, the UN is a place that can be bought, and cheap - and then evicts and restricts the Press which covers it. See 9 minute video, in front of the courthouse before and after the sentencing here. Prosecutor Daniel Richenthal appeared understandably frustrated with Judge Vernon Broderick backtracking even on his sentencing to prison, after he already let Ng Lap Seng remain on house arrest even after conviction. More follow up at the UNreformed UN is needed. Inner City Press, which covered the Ng UN bribery scandal, got evicted from the UN for its troubles and is still restricted, asked long time UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Yin, Ng and the case on February 28: has ANYONE in the UN system been held accountable? Dujarric replied that those guilty of a crime were found guilty in court. But that is because of the UN's immunity, which it uses even now on sexual harassment charges in India, as it did for bringing cholera to Haiti. If anything, the UN is becoming more corrupt (see the Patrick Ho / CEFC case, below), and more willing to engage in targeted censorship of the investigative Press. As to Ng, his request for a meeting with consular officials of the People's Republic of China was largely granted. Even post-conviction, Ng is living in a luxury apartment a block from the UN, where he's received massages four to ten hours a day. The "Guidepost" guards he pays at first let him close the door and ate the masseuse's cooking; now the judge has said the door should be open. And this October 25 order, granting Ng's "request to meet with Mr. Yang
Zerui and Mr. Ma Chao in the presence of Defendant’s bilingual counsel, Ms. Xue Huang, is APPROVED, insofar as Mr. Yang Zerui and Mr. Ma Chao are appropriately accredited consular officers from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China. To the extent there is a question concerning whether or not Mr. Yang Zerui and/or Mr. Ma Chao are appropriately accredited consular officers from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, prior to such meeting, Defendant’s counsel must obtain and provide to the Government written confirmation from the United States Department of State or other appropriate authority of the consular credentials of Mr. Yang and Mr. Ma.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant’s counsel must report any untoward discussions to the Court and report anything related to a possible violation of bail to the Court, the government and the Guidepost security team. " Right. A stated reason for the consular visit is to discussion the conditions of his detention, as well as "possible legal and diplomatic issues
raised in the case related to China." Meanwhile Inner City Press, which covered the trial (and was evicted from and remains restricted in the UN for pursuing still unacted on UN aspects of the bribery) has replied to the Freedom of Information Act response seeking to hinder its and the public's access to additional UN-related documents. Yet there is obstruction and delay at every turn in getting UN-related documents about this bribery case. Why? We'll have more on this. How corrupt and UNresponsive is the UN? Days after the indictment of UN President of the General Assembly John Ashe and Ng Lap Seng, Bangladesh's then-Ambassador Abdul Monem fled the US. As Inner City Press reported, Monem was involved in the scandal. He not only attended Ng's Macau event in August 2015 - after that, on September 6, 2015, Monem "urgently" emailed Francis Lorenzo who has pleaded guilty to ask how to insert the Macau "outcome" into a GA resolution. So he fled the US. And yet on September 28, 2017, as photographed by still-restricted Inner City Press, Abdul Monem was back in the UN, in the Security Council no less, for the open meeting on the Rohingya of Myanmar. On the morning of October 2, Inner City Press asked the UN's top three spokespeople, in writing: "In the recent UNSC open meeting on Myanmar, former Bangladesh Ambassador Abdul Monem, who left the US within days of the indictment of Ashe, Ng and Francis Lorenzo, reappeared. Given what came out during the Ng Lap Seng prosecution, please state whether this former Permanent Representative kept his UN ID badge to access UNHQ or was newly credentialed, and separately what follow up the UN (OLA or OIOS) is making on what was exposed during the Ng Lap Seng prosecution. Requesting all answers by email, on deadline. Please confirm receipt." No answer. In the new / next UN bribery case, indictee Patrick Ho was denied bail on February 5, in a lengthy oral order that found the weight of evidence against him substantial. On November 20, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued an indictment against the head of the UN ECOSOC accredited China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC) Patrick Ho and former Senegal foreign minister Cheikh Gadio, accused together of bribing Chad's President Idriss Deby -- as well as, for Ho, of bribing former UN President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa, now as then the foreign minister of Uganda, since 2005, allegedly for the benefit of President Yoweri Museveni. On February 5, Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesman why CEFC is still in "special consultative status" with ECOSOC, transcript here (video here) and below, than ran to the courthouse. There, US District Court Judge Katherine Forrest asked Prosecutor Daniel C. Richenthal to describe the weight of the evidence. "How strong is your case?" she asked, to some laughter. Very strong, he said, adding that Ho has been emailing the "Shanghai-based Energy Company" (that would be CEFC China Energy) from MCC detention, to launch a public relations campaign. It may be backfiring: Judge Forrest in her ruling denying bail noted that if Chinese government press is describing the case as political, it would make fleeing and remaining in China all the easier. Richenthal said that Ho could travel to other places - he listed Chad, Uganda, Iran and Russia. The continued home detention of UN bribery convictee was raised by Richenthal and Judge Forrest, and not favorably. Gadio was alluded to as not yet indicted - he'd said to be talking about a plea - and Judge Forrest emphasized November 5 as the trial date. She said there was leave to re-apply for bail but said such an application should include what Ho's lawyer Mr Kim called the "context" of the payments. Kim said they including country-wide charitable and military aid. From a Chinese energy company? From the UN's February 5 transcript: Inner City Press: Patrick Ho, who is the head of the China Energy Fund Committee, is arguing again for bail today.  And the US, in opposing it, put it in writing that they've executed a search warrant at China Energy Fund Committee, the NGO's (non-governmental organization) offices in Virginia.  It seems the China Energy Fund Committee is still in special consultative status with ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) even as its offices are being raided and… and its head is in jail.  What are the procedures for… for…? Spokesman:  As far as I'm aware… you know, the consultative status of ECOSOC, as opposed to the DPI (Department of Public Information) status, is one that is managed by the Member States.  There is a committee of ECOSOC that is made up of Member States.  They give… they grant or deny consultative status to various NGOs.  I think we'll have to look… you can contact ECOSOC to see what the exact rules are, but my assumption would be that, if Member States grant, only Member States can take away." So, Guterres is doing nothing. On February 6, after another non-response by ECOSOC's chair, Inner City Press asked Guterres' and Dujarric's Deputy Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:  yesterday, the… Patrick Ho, the head of the China Energy Fund Committee here, was denied bail.  And in the… in the hearing, basically, the prosecution said and the judge said that she found weight to be given to the evidence that basically the NGO [non-governmental organization] was a front for bribery to Sam Kutesa and others.  So, given that… how this trial is going, I'm wondering, again, Stéphane [Dujarric] had said that the Secretariat plays no role in sort of following through and making sure that China Energy Fund Committee can't continue to say it's a… in special consultative status with ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council].  I've written to the ECOSOC chair now twice, 28 November 2017 and today, but I don't have anything back.  Is there any spokesperson for ECOSOC that can at least say what the process is? Deputy Spokesman:  There is a spokesperson for the President of the Economic and Social [Council], and I can give you that contact afterwards. Inner City Press: Because… because Brenden… oh.  Yeah.  Anyways, I'd written before to that same individual, and there was no response.  I'm just… guess I'm wondering, what is their… what is the… does the Secretary-General… given that trial that's now moving forward and what's coming out in it, does he believe in the same way that he has… asserting himself as to agencies on other issues, that he should maybe get involved to ensure that there's not a… a named briber saying that they're in consultative status with the UN? Deputy Spokesman:  "Well, UN bodies themselves have been dealing with the problems created by the China Energy Fund Committee in their own ways, but what you're talking about is consultative status that's granted by Member States through the Economic and Social Council, and that decision would have to be taken by Member States." Then Inner City Press emailed the alluded to spokesman, one Paul Simon. Hours later, nothing. In advance of the February 5, the prosecution in writing asserted that "since the Complaint was signed and Ho was arrested, the evidence of his guilt has only become stronger, as the Government has interviewed witnesses, executed search warrants (including for the Virginia office of the Energy NGO), and obtained documents from third parties." Tellingly, this Energy NGO, China Energy Fund Committee, is *still* in special consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council - and Guterres met with Uganda's Museveni, who is in the complaint, at the same AU summit where Guterres metSudan's Omar al Bashir, without issuing any read-out. The prosecution's letter cites the "President of the UN General Assembly (the “Ugandan Foreign Minister”). Ho also provided the Ugandan Foreign Minister, as well as the President of Uganda (who is the Ugandan Foreign Minister’s relative), with gifts and promises of future benefits, including offering to let both officials share in the profits of a potential joint venture in Uganda involving the Energy Company and the officials’ family businesses." On January 27, after belatedly dropping CEFC from the UN Global Compact, Guterres in Addis Ababa met Museveni, with Kutesa himself in Addis as well. Museveni tweeted a photo and read out -- "Met UN Secretary General @antonioguterres on the sidelines of the 30th AU Ordinary Summit in Addis Ababa. We discussed regional peace, UN reforms and support for refugees." Meanwhile, consistent his declining transparency, Guterres did not issue any read out. Did the UN bribery scandal come up? Or get further covered up? As Inner City Press pursues this story and others, Guterres and his "Global Communicator" Alison Smale, seen January 26 in South Carolina praising a Chinese airline while mis-allocating funds meant for Kiswahili radio, keep Inner City Press more restricted in the UN than no-show state media. This is censorship for corruption. 

In Cameroon, Visit By UN's Fall Who Called Secessionists Extremists, Biya's Golden Gift

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video, 1st Person, this

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- The deference of the UN system's and many of its member states to Cameroon's corrupt 36-year president Paul Biya, and their complicity in his recent crackdown, continues. The Biya government is destroying historic places like Boa Bakundu, reportedly burning alive another grandmother, this time Frida Ndumu. 

Meanwhile after illegal refoulement to Yaounde from Nigeria, and ongoing crackdowns. Now the UN's Central Africa representative Francois Lounceny Fall, who on UN Radio equated secessionists and extremists then ran from Press questions in UN Headquarters, has deigned to visit Buea, along with the UN's resident coordinator Allegra Maria Del Pilar Baiocchi, more focused on promoting the UN than trying to prevent conflict and the killing of civilians. She has tweeted photos about the visit, nothing on the burned motor bikes and people, much less the illegal refoulement. Sources in the UN Department of Political Affairs say Guterres arranged for a memo justifying his inaction since receipt of Biya's golden statue. We'll have more on this. Guterres' humanitarian deputy official Ursula Mueller offered "congratulations" to Biya's foreign minister Mbella Mbella. Photo and UNanswered Press question here. Now on February 26 after four day Mueller has issued a funding plea for Biya's Cameroon, with a perfunctory reference to the western regions at the end: "Concluding a four-day visit to Cameroon, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ursula Mueller, called on the international community and the Government to step up support to humanitarian actions in the country. During the visit, she met with the Minister of External Relations and the Governor of the Far North.... Ms. Mueller’s visit was also an opportunity to discuss other crises that Cameroon is facing, with an increased influx of refugees from the Central African Republic and sociopolitical tensions in the north-west and south-west regions." Yeah. This comes after Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Mueller would stop in the Anglophone zones, and since not, why not? He replied that the overall humanitarian situation would be discussed. So on February 23, Inner City Press asked Dujarric again, video here, UN transcripthere: Inner City Press: I had asked you before Ursula Mueller's trip, whether the… the situation in the anglophone zones of Cameroon would come up, and I just want to say I saw… I guess she tweeted a picture of herself with the Foreign Minister of Cameroon yesterday, saying… congratulating the Cameroon Government, entirely positive.  And I just wanted to know… you seemed… you seemed to indicate that the overall humanitarian situation would arise.  Given even… even on the issue of refugees, given that there were 47 people sent back seemingly illegally, refouled from Nigeria, is this… is she unaware of that in giving these congratulations? Spokesman:  Her mission focused on the Lake Chad Basin, on the situation in the Lake Chad Basin which, as you know, has led to mass… to a humanitarian situation that's impacted at least 10 million people.  She discussed a wide range of humanitarian concerns with the government of Cameroon, including the Boko Haram crisis in the far north, the situation of refugees from the CAR [Central African Republic] in the east, and the growing food insecurity across the country, as well as the situation in the Anglophone regions."  Really? With congratulations, echoes of the golden statue that Guterres took in October? Meanwhile in Nigeria people are being prosecuted for sheltering refugees from Cameroon, and Guterres and the UN are silent. We'll have more on this. A new report details Biya's long stays outside of the country in Geneva, while his military kills Anglophones and the country declines. Biya has spent four and a half years in Geneva, at a cost of $65 million in hotel fees and $117 million for chartered private plane, sometimes left "on stand-by" for weeks at a time. The report goes one level down: "One of Biya’s closest confidants, Joseph Fouda, a military officer and special advisor, has accompanied him on at least 86 trips, amounting to more than three years of travel since 1993. He prefers a room on a top floor of the Intercontinental. Another close confidant, Martin Belinga Eboutou, 78, has spent nearly three years travelling with the president starting in 1987, when he was Cameroon’s ambassador to Morocco. The president attempted to buy a brand new private jet in 2004, but his staff reportedly cut corners on the deal, buying a defective plane covered by a fresh coat of paint that nearly crashed on its first flight. Since then, the president has chartered at least several private aircraft, including a luxury jet formerly owned by the government of Kazakhstan." Still UN Secretary General, himself a murky first class flyer, smilingly took Biya's golden statue and has done nothing; his advisers Khassim Diagne and the outgoing head of Political Affairs have assured him of Biya's bona fides or the wisdom of doing... nothing. The UN has failed. The UN refugee agency UNHCR in Abuja early on January 30 told Inner City Press that it has as yet no comment on the blatant forced repatriation or refoulement to Cameroon of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 46 others while it seeks "explanations through official channels." (Later UNHCR issued a short statement.) On January 31, Inner City Press again asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcripthere and below. When Inner City Press on February 8 put the refoulement question to Francois Delattre, the UN Ambassador of France which has supported Paul Biya's 36-year rule, Delattre replied that "We always have views but no comment from me at this stage." Video here. That is irresponsible - or another sign of France's responsibility for what is happening in the region. We'll have more on this - and now on Germany. Angela Merkel's "personal representative for Africa" GunterNooke showed up in Yaounde on February 15 trying as he does elsewhere to drum up business. With him was Ambassador Hans Dieter Stell; there was according to CRTV "the exchange of gifts symbolic of Cameroon's legendary hospitality." Another golden statue like UNSG Guterres took? At UN headquarters, as Inner City Press alone asked, Germany's Ambassador procured a publicly funded post for his wife by merely emailing Guterres' chief of staff. Inner City Press askedDujarric and his deputy Haq - no real answer -while the only other question asked about it was how the information about the job had leaked. The media asking that is given full access to the UN by the UN Department ofPublic Information of British Alison Smale, a major Germanophile who continues to have Inner City Press restricted, its long time work space given to a no-show no-question Egyptian state media. We'll have more on this.

The United Kingdom's silence about the plight of Anglophone residents of the former British Southern Cameroons persists even in the face of a Freedom of Information Act request from Inner City Press. 

More than five months ago on 15 August 2017 Inner City Press asked the UK government for records concerning Cameroon. After repeatedly extending the time to response, now the UK has denied access to all responsive records, letter here, saying that "the release of information relating to the UK’s discussion on UN business could harm our relations and other member states of the United Nations (UN)." 

Here on Patreon is the full denial letter, from which Inner City Press is preparing an appeal, on Yemen as well - it has 40 working days. 

This is shameful - the UK is also exiting transparency. 

On February 6 in front of the UN Security Council, Inner City Press asked the United Kingdom's Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Allen for the UK's comment on Nigeria's forced repatriation of 47 to Cameroon. From the UK transcript: Inner City Press: Nigeria did a forced repatriation of 47 Cameroonian leaders. The UNHCR said it was illegal. The US has commented on it. Does the UK have any view? Amb Allen: I’m afraid I wasn’t aware of that before. I’ll have to get back to you on the details." Video here. At day's end, a UK Mission spokesperson sent Inner City Press a short comment, here. 

As Inner City Press pursues these questions at the UN, again it remains restricted to minders by the head of the UN Department of Public Information Alison Smale, who it is noted is British - and functionally a censor. A retaliator, too? As noted, Smale has not explained why Inner City Press' long time work space is assigned to no-show, no-question Egyptian state media Akhbar al Youm. 

On Cameroon and Yemen, UK Denies Inner City Press FOIA Request After 170 Days, Preparing to Appeal, 40 Work... by Matthew Russell Lee on Scribd

Meanwhile the French government, which claims at the UN and elsewhere that human rights is in its DNA, has ignored the refoulement, limited its condemnation instead, via Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Von der Muhll, on "new killings of law enforcement officials that took place on 1 February in Cameroon." 

In Yaounde, France's Ambassador Gilles Thibault is focusing, like Reuters' ostensibly charitable arm, on the cultivation of pepper, see here. This is colonialism.Are these the relations that the UK claims would be hurt by complying with FOIA? Watch this site. 

In Cameroon, Visit By UN's Fall Who Called Secessionists Extremists, Biya's Golden Gift

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video, 1st Person, this

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- The deference of the UN system's and many of its member states to Cameroon's corrupt 36-year president Paul Biya, and their complicity in his recent crackdown, continues. The Biya government is destroying historic places like Boa Bakundu, reportedly burning alive another grandmother, this time Frida Ndumu. 

Meanwhile after illegal refoulement to Yaounde from Nigeria, and ongoing crackdowns. Now the UN's Central Africa representative Francois Lounceny Fall, who on UN Radio equated secessionists and extremists then ran from Press questions in UN Headquarters, has deigned to visit Buea, along with the UN's resident coordinator Allegra Maria Del Pilar Baiocchi, more focused on promoting the UN than trying to prevent conflict and the killing of civilians. She has tweeted photos about the visit, nothing on the burned motor bikes and people, much less the illegal refoulement. Sources in the UN Department of Political Affairs say Guterres arranged for a memo justifying his inaction since receipt of Biya's golden statue. We'll have more on this. Guterres' humanitarian deputy official Ursula Mueller offered "congratulations" to Biya's foreign minister Mbella Mbella. Photo and UNanswered Press question here. Now on February 26 after four day Mueller has issued a funding plea for Biya's Cameroon, with a perfunctory reference to the western regions at the end: "Concluding a four-day visit to Cameroon, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ursula Mueller, called on the international community and the Government to step up support to humanitarian actions in the country. During the visit, she met with the Minister of External Relations and the Governor of the Far North.... Ms. Mueller’s visit was also an opportunity to discuss other crises that Cameroon is facing, with an increased influx of refugees from the Central African Republic and sociopolitical tensions in the north-west and south-west regions." Yeah. This comes after Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Mueller would stop in the Anglophone zones, and since not, why not? He replied that the overall humanitarian situation would be discussed. So on February 23, Inner City Press asked Dujarric again, video here, UN transcripthere: Inner City Press: I had asked you before Ursula Mueller's trip, whether the… the situation in the anglophone zones of Cameroon would come up, and I just want to say I saw… I guess she tweeted a picture of herself with the Foreign Minister of Cameroon yesterday, saying… congratulating the Cameroon Government, entirely positive.  And I just wanted to know… you seemed… you seemed to indicate that the overall humanitarian situation would arise.  Given even… even on the issue of refugees, given that there were 47 people sent back seemingly illegally, refouled from Nigeria, is this… is she unaware of that in giving these congratulations? Spokesman:  Her mission focused on the Lake Chad Basin, on the situation in the Lake Chad Basin which, as you know, has led to mass… to a humanitarian situation that's impacted at least 10 million people.  She discussed a wide range of humanitarian concerns with the government of Cameroon, including the Boko Haram crisis in the far north, the situation of refugees from the CAR [Central African Republic] in the east, and the growing food insecurity across the country, as well as the situation in the Anglophone regions."  Really? With congratulations, echoes of the golden statue that Guterres took in October? Meanwhile in Nigeria people are being prosecuted for sheltering refugees from Cameroon, and Guterres and the UN are silent. We'll have more on this. A new report details Biya's long stays outside of the country in Geneva, while his military kills Anglophones and the country declines. Biya has spent four and a half years in Geneva, at a cost of $65 million in hotel fees and $117 million for chartered private plane, sometimes left "on stand-by" for weeks at a time. The report goes one level down: "One of Biya’s closest confidants, Joseph Fouda, a military officer and special advisor, has accompanied him on at least 86 trips, amounting to more than three years of travel since 1993. He prefers a room on a top floor of the Intercontinental. Another close confidant, Martin Belinga Eboutou, 78, has spent nearly three years travelling with the president starting in 1987, when he was Cameroon’s ambassador to Morocco. The president attempted to buy a brand new private jet in 2004, but his staff reportedly cut corners on the deal, buying a defective plane covered by a fresh coat of paint that nearly crashed on its first flight. Since then, the president has chartered at least several private aircraft, including a luxury jet formerly owned by the government of Kazakhstan." Still UN Secretary General, himself a murky first class flyer, smilingly took Biya's golden statue and has done nothing; his advisers Khassim Diagne and the outgoing head of Political Affairs have assured him of Biya's bona fides or the wisdom of doing... nothing. The UN has failed. The UN refugee agency UNHCR in Abuja early on January 30 told Inner City Press that it has as yet no comment on the blatant forced repatriation or refoulement to Cameroon of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 46 others while it seeks "explanations through official channels." (Later UNHCR issued a short statement.) On January 31, Inner City Press again asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcripthere and below. When Inner City Press on February 8 put the refoulement question to Francois Delattre, the UN Ambassador of France which has supported Paul Biya's 36-year rule, Delattre replied that "We always have views but no comment from me at this stage." Video here. That is irresponsible - or another sign of France's responsibility for what is happening in the region. We'll have more on this - and now on Germany. Angela Merkel's "personal representative for Africa" GunterNooke showed up in Yaounde on February 15 trying as he does elsewhere to drum up business. With him was Ambassador Hans Dieter Stell; there was according to CRTV "the exchange of gifts symbolic of Cameroon's legendary hospitality." Another golden statue like UNSG Guterres took? At UN headquarters, as Inner City Press alone asked, Germany's Ambassador procured a publicly funded post for his wife by merely emailing Guterres' chief of staff. Inner City Press askedDujarric and his deputy Haq - no real answer -while the only other question asked about it was how the information about the job had leaked. The media asking that is given full access to the UN by the UN Department ofPublic Information of British Alison Smale, a major Germanophile who continues to have Inner City Press restricted, its long time work space given to a no-show no-question Egyptian state media. We'll have more on this.

The United Kingdom's silence about the plight of Anglophone residents of the former British Southern Cameroons persists even in the face of a Freedom of Information Act request from Inner City Press. 

More than five months ago on 15 August 2017 Inner City Press asked the UK government for records concerning Cameroon. After repeatedly extending the time to response, now the UK has denied access to all responsive records, letter here, saying that "the release of information relating to the UK’s discussion on UN business could harm our relations and other member states of the United Nations (UN)." 

Here on Patreon is the full denial letter, from which Inner City Press is preparing an appeal, on Yemen as well - it has 40 working days. 

This is shameful - the UK is also exiting transparency. 

On February 6 in front of the UN Security Council, Inner City Press asked the United Kingdom's Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Allen for the UK's comment on Nigeria's forced repatriation of 47 to Cameroon. From the UK transcript: Inner City Press: Nigeria did a forced repatriation of 47 Cameroonian leaders. The UNHCR said it was illegal. The US has commented on it. Does the UK have any view? Amb Allen: I’m afraid I wasn’t aware of that before. I’ll have to get back to you on the details." Video here. At day's end, a UK Mission spokesperson sent Inner City Press a short comment, here. 

As Inner City Press pursues these questions at the UN, again it remains restricted to minders by the head of the UN Department of Public Information Alison Smale, who it is noted is British - and functionally a censor. A retaliator, too? As noted, Smale has not explained why Inner City Press' long time work space is assigned to no-show, no-question Egyptian state media Akhbar al Youm. 

On Cameroon and Yemen, UK Denies Inner City Press FOIA Request After 170 Days, Preparing to Appeal, 40 Work... by Matthew Russell Lee on Scribd

Meanwhile the French government, which claims at the UN and elsewhere that human rights is in its DNA, has ignored the refoulement, limited its condemnation instead, via Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Von der Muhll, on "new killings of law enforcement officials that took place on 1 February in Cameroon." 

In Yaounde, France's Ambassador Gilles Thibault is focusing, like Reuters' ostensibly charitable arm, on the cultivation of pepper, see here. This is colonialism.Are these the relations that the UK claims would be hurt by complying with FOIA? Watch this site.