UN Guterres Tells Officials Only He Will See Their Finances While His Disclosure Delayed and Inaccurate

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive CJR PFT

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 – While Secretary General Antonio Guterres has delayed public financial disclosure for himself and all UN officials after his last public filing omitted payments he received from a foundation trying to sell its oil company to UN briber CEFC China Energy, on February 18 he promised further secrecy. In a memo exclusively published by Inner City Press which Guterres has banned for 239 days as it asks about his conflicts of interest, Guterres assured his officials that their filings are viewable only by him and those he authorizes. Photo here. 

Guterres assures, "Financial disclosures statements are confidential and are only accessible to and used by me, the Ethics Office or official specifically authorized in writing by me." Big Tony is the Boss. The memo makes no mention, much less urging, of public disclosure. And so everything that is online is out of date - and in the case of Guterres, inaccurate, apparently intentionally so. A fish rots from the head. While UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was refusing throughout 2018 to begin any UN audit into China Energy Fund Committee, implicated in the UN bribery prosecution US v Patrick Ho, Guterres had a secret.

   Guterres was and it seems still is connected with and compensated by a company which was trying to sell its oil and gas business to China Energy Fund Committee in 2018. Guterres' failure to disclose and refusal to audit was a direct conflict of interest, which he has tried to cover up by roughing up and banning Inner City Press which asked him about it. (See January 2018 press conference here, July 2018 roughing up by Guterres' UN Security here, banning letter via Press Freedom Tracker here.)

A now-removed Gulbenkian Foundation web page says Guterres continued as a board member into 2018. Archived here. In fact it was on 9 February 2018 that Gulbenian tweeted that Guterres was no longer on the board - AFTER it was reported that Gulbenian was trying to sell, or even had already sold, Partex to CEFC. This is called guilty knowledge. 

 While Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric is refusing to answer Inner City Press' written questions, contrary to promises by Guterres' Global Communicator Alison Smale, it appears Guterres' evasive defense is claiming that he left Gulbenkian in November 2016 and therefore somehow had no conflict of interest in refusing and blocking the obviously needed UN audit of CEFC after the arrest of its Patrick Ho for UN bribery. This defense is dubious.

  Why did Gulbenkian take down its webpagedisclosing that Guterres remained on board into 2018? Why - sixteen months after Guterres ostensibly left - did they wait until February 2018 to tweet that he left? Because their negotiations with CEFC became public (see 2 February 2018 Bloomberg here, and 6 February MacauHub here: "CEFC China Energy buys Portugal’s Partex Oil & Gas.")

  In any event, Guterres' "2017" Financial Disclosure, which explicitly says it covered the year 2016 in which even in this new story he remained on Gulbenkian's board into November, more than 80% of the year - did not disclose his role in Gulbenkian, only on the Club of Madrid. Guterres has had previous financial disclosure omissions, for example in Portugal, here. CEFC was hardly unknown: it bought a Portuguese insurance company in November 2017, here.

    Guterres' failure to disclose and, separately and even more so, his refusal to audit CEFC in the UN was a direct conflict of interest, which he has tried to cover up by roughing up and banning Inner City Press which asked him about it. (See January 2018 press conference here, July 2018 roughing up by Guterres' UN Security here, banning letter via Press Freedom Tracker here.)

Three times now Dujarric, his deputy Farhan Haq and Office of the Spokesperson colleagues Marcia Soares Pinto and Keishamaza Rukikaire, as well as Guterres, his chief of staff Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti and Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed have refused to answer this: "Beyond the 36 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer last week, still set forth below for promised answer, this is a reiterated request past deadline that you (1) state when SG Guterres left his position on the Gulbenkian Foundation, (2) state why Gulbenkian was not listed on SG Guterres' public financial disclosure which covered 2016; (3) explain how it is not a conflict of interest for SG Guterres to have refused to start an audit of CEFC in the UN, as requested by Inner City Press in January 2018, given CEFC's bid for the oil business of Gulbenkian. Also, again, state why under SG Guterres there have been no updates to the UN public financial disclosures since those filed for 2016. Also, again, explain your refusal to answer any of Inner City Press' questions this week despite USG Smale's statements to GAP, me and UNSR David Kaye." No response at all, even as spokesman Dujarric for example tweets at actor Seth Rogin. Dujarric, as simply one example, on 1 March 2018 evaded Inner City Press' in-person questions about CEFC and Guterres, less than a month after Gulbenkian said Guterres was off the board, amid oil negotiations with CEFC. Video here. Then Guterres and Dujarric had Inner City Press roughed up and banned from the UN. Guterres' wife Catarina Vaz Pinto also worked for Gulbenkian. This is today's corrupt UN.

   For years Guterres received money as a board member of the Calouste Galbenkian Foundation, which despite its name is the 100% owner of Partex Oil and Gas. Partex has operations in Angola, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Oman and Portugal. It was to a Portuguese court that Guterres, while justifying no listing some of his income, disclosed in 2016 that he was paid at least € 2735 per month for his position with the Gulbenkian Foundation.

   But while a now deleted Foundation web page (archived here) stated that Guterres continued with Gulbenkian into 2018, Guterres did not list it on his most recent, and so far lone, UN Public Financial Disclosure, which covered 2016 ("Disclosing financial and other interests for the 2016 reporting year"). 

  So why did Guterres disclose his position with the Club of Madrid, but not with the Gulbenkian Foundation / Partex Oil and Gas? It is worth noting that Guterres' wife Catarina Vaz Pinto has also been connected to Gulbenkian.

   Following the roughing up and banning from the UN of Inner City Press which has covered the CEFC scandal throughout, Guterres' head of Global Communications Alison Smale promised UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression David Kaye, who asked, that the UN would still answer Inner City Press' written questions.

   But as 2018 came to a close Guterres' spokesmen Stephane Dujarric and Farhan Haq left unanswered 36 questions in a row from Inner City Press, including this: “Beyond the 35 questions from Inner City Press you refused to answer this week, this is a request on deadline that you (1) state when SG Guterres left his position on the Gulbenkian Foundation,

(2) state why Gulbenkian was not listed on SG Guterres' public financial disclosure which covered 2016; 

(3) explain how it is not a conflict of interest for SG Guterres to have refused to start an audit of CEFC in the UN, as requested by Inner City Press in January 2018, given CEFC's bid for the oil business of Gulbenkian. 

Also, again, state why under SG Guterres there have been no updates to the UN public financial disclosures since those filed for 2016. Also, again, explain your refusal to answer any of Inner City Press' questions this week despite USG Smale's statements to GAP, me and UNSR David Kaye. On deadline.” 

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

Back on 5 December 2018 Patrick Ho was found guilty of seven of eight counts of violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and month laundering. (He was only not guilty on money laundering in Chad - where the bribe was not through any US bank but in cash, $2 million in a gift box). The evidence showed that the NGO he ran, China Energy Fund Committee, used its ongoing UN consultative status to pay bribes to Ugandan foreign minister - and Ashe's successor as President of the UN General Assembly -- Sam Kutesa.. He was working with precedessor Vuk Jeremicwhile Jeremic was UN PGA. CEFC even offered weapons, tanks and drones, to Chad's long time president Idriss Deby for oil blocks or a stake in the Chad Cameroon pipeline. (Inner City Press published documents here.)

The night of the verdict I asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres what he will do to clean up the UN, where he has left CEFC without any audit, still in consultative status with the UN. On his way from his Mercedes to a glitzy fundraiser including George and Amal Clooney, Guterres refused to answer. The next day when asked by another journalist why Guterres had refused to answer banned Inner City Press' question, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric claimed that the UN has “cooperated” with the prosecution. But the bribery group remains in the UN, unaudited.

Why has the case of US versus Ho, and now the guilty verdicts, garnered relatively so little interest, with the corruption of the UN exposed by it scarcely mentioned all? SG Guterres is hoping it goes away. In terms of corruption, he did not disclose and refuses to answer on the African business links of his son Pedro Guimarães e Melo De Oliveira Guterres. He refuses to answer how much he spends in public funds flying to his home in Lisbon at least sixteen times sofar as SG. 

   So CEFC remains an accredited non governmental organization with the UN's Economic and Social Council, while investigative Inner City Press for which I have been covering the case has been dis-accredited by and ousted from the UN, put on a list of those permanently banned without notice, due process or appeal. On December 7 I was informed I am banned from a “UN Human Rights” event on December 10 to be addressed by Guterres and his human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet. But this reporting will not stop - Guterres' corruption of the UN must be addressed, through oversight or as is discussed elsewhere, impeachment. From the lofty goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to Guterres' censorship for corruption is UNacceptable.

  With UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and her Deputy Andrew Gilmour set to speak in the UN on human rights day on December 10, Inner City Press responded to an invitation and was told, "Thank you for registering to attend the Human Rights Day event at the United Nations on Monday 10 December. On Monday, please come to the UN Visitors’ Gate on First Avenue opposite 45th street starting at 2pm, at which time entry passes will be distributed." 

Then, past six p.m. on Friday, December 7 thisfrom Bachelet's and Gilmour's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: "Dear Matthew, We have received notification from UN Security that your name was flagged as "BARRED" on the list we submitted for passes for Monday's event (3pm, ECOSOC Chamber).We will therefore not have a pass for you and are unable to facilitate entry.
Thank you for your interest and best regards,
OHCHR New York Office." Photo of email here.

   Inner City Press immediately wrote back, to the sender and Bachelet and her assistant, to Andrew Gilmour and to the moderator of the event, "Particularly since you are the UN Office of the High Commissioner for *Human Rights,* did you not ask why a journalist who asks the Secretary General and his spokesmen about the killings in Cameroon, Burundi, UN corruption, UN peacekeepers' sexual abuse of civilians, and Sri Lanka, is “BARRED” from attending your human rights event - without any hearing or appeal? I will appreciate your Office's answer to this."  We'll have more on this.

 Bachelet gave a speech on October 15 in the UN's Third Committee, she emphasized a prioritization of social and economic rights and said one of the officials of her office is "on mission in Silicon Valley" in the US. There are questions about this - but Inner City Press which has covered human rights and the UN for more than a decade was for the first time banned from access a High Commissioner's speech. This has been raised repeated to Bachelet since she took office but she has so far done nothing, not even responded. Meanwhile on October 12 Cameroon, from whose Paul Biya Secretary General Antonio Guterres took a golden statue and favors in the Fifth (Budget) Committee and remains silent on the slaughter of Anglophones, was elected to a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. This system is failing - but if Bachelet cannot even answer on Guterres maintaining a secret banned list including not only Inner City Press but also "political activists" - and anti-corruption campaigners - then the UN of Guterres has hit its newest low. 

SDNY Plaintiff Blinded by DPM Courthouse In The Pro Se Case of the Leaking Toilet

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive, Video

SDNY COURTHOUSE, February 27 – With real estate firm Douglas Elliman as defendant, an intial pre-trial conference was scheduled for 5 pm on February 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Inner City Press went to cover it but found courtroom 12C empty. SDNY Judge Gregory Woods' clerk came out and asked, Are you Mr. Best? No.

  It emerged that Mr. Best was not a lawyer but a pro se plaintiff (one representing himself). Like Inner City Press he'd had to leave his phone down on the first floor, and thereafter wandered floor to floor even as the clerk tried to call him. He has until 5:25, it was announced.

   With ten seconds to spare he came in. Judge Woods gently admonished him, then asked for a big picture of the case. Mr. Best was terminated from his job at 212 Warren Street due to an leaking toilet in 9E. Douglas Elliman's lawyer said the Mr. Best hadn't responded to radio calls, and that in any event his employer was the owner of that building, not the management firm Douglas Elliman. Mr. Best disagreed and said he was ready for trial. But things don't move that fast, in the SDNY or more courts. Five month for discovery. A foreseeable motion for summary judgment. Time to decide that motion. Mr. Best was asked, Do you want mediation? 

If it's amicable, he answered. He just wanted his job back, even part time. "My family is suffering," he said. The proceeding took an hour, and still he was out of a job. But he had this day in court, more than the victims of the United Nations or diplomats can say.

 As Inner City Press has exclusively reported, the Qatar ruling family's abuse of employees and laws was exposed in an off the record initial conference across Pearl Street on February 14; Inner City Press was the only media present.  Since its exclusive report that day, Inner City Press has been contacted by more employees and whistleblowers and a range of apparent legal violations by the Qatar royal family has come to light. 

Beyond the failure to pay overtime which was the subject of the February 14 proceeding, Inner City Press is now informed that others of the Qatar royals' workers are brought in through JFK airport on private jets, into limousine that drive onto the tarmac. These employees are then made to work long hours with no protections in the mansion at 9 East 72nd Street in Manhattan. 

Inner City Press is informed, tellingly, that one female worker from the Philippines in forced to sleep in front of  Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani's bedroom room so that she can be ready to bring him food or water or even give massages at any hour. His wife Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, the sister of Qatar's ruler, buys art for Qatar's museum and runs the "Reaching Out To Asia" foundation.Meanwhile her workers have their hair pulled and a tooth broken by her son. When workers are fired they are urged to fly to Doha where they would face arrest. 

The scams work this way: the Qatari royals' employees signed contracts in Doha and then are told that their visas to the US, unless they are smuggled / trafficked in through the JFK Airport tarmac, are under the control of the royals. While waiting to be processed at JFK they are presented with a new less favorable contract and told if they do not sign it, they will not be admitted. If they work for the family in Qatar, they face imprisonment for any disagreement. 

In New York the family's close protection guards, some without visas, brandish illegal large knives. NYPD was called when the royals sought to have one fired employee, Chantelle McGuffie, removed from her apartment at 221 East 50th Street near the UN. Still this family, these systematic crimes, have yet to be acted on by authorities including the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York despite the facts dragged through the SDNY court. 

Inner City Press, in reporting this despite threats - at the UN, Qatar's state media Al Jazeera has worked with UNSG Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric to have Inner City Press roughed up and banned, see Columbia Journalism Review here - aims to put an end to this impunity. Watch this site.

Background: the sister of the ruler of Qatar is being sued by at least three employees who say they were made to work six days a week without being paid overtime, and were retaliated against. Inner City Press was the only media present at the initial pre trial conference on the case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 14, and was tempted to object when the Qatari royal's lawyer from the Proskauer law firm urged SDNY Judge J. Paul Oetken for a confidentiality order. 

Royals of a gas-rich emirate that has locked up poets for criticizing them, seeking to cover up their retaliation and refusal to pay overtime? It remains to be seen how much will be covered up in the case. The defendants are Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani and Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz Al- Thani. 

From the answer to the Complaint: "Defendants admit that Mr. Bancroft began his employment in Doha, Qatar and that he accompanied Defendants when they moved to New York, but otherwise deny the  allegations in Paragraph 39 of the Complaint.  40. Defendants deny the allegations in Paragraph 40 of the Complaint.  41. Defendants admit that Mr. Bancroft accompanied Defendants on their European travels in various countries during the summer of 2016, but upon information and belief,  otherwise deny the allegations in Paragraph 41 of the Complaint.    42. Defendants admit that Mr. Bancroft accompanied Defendants on their trip to Qatar in the summer of 2017, but otherwise deny the allegations in Paragraph 42 of the  Complaint.  43. Defendants admit that Mr. Bancroft accompanied Defendants on their European travels in various countries during the summer of 2018, but upon information and belief,  otherwise deny the allegations in Paragraph 43 of the Complaint.    44. Defendants admit that Mr. Bancroft traveled with the family to Miami and Boston."

 This is the life of corrupt royals and diplomats, such like those at the UN up to and including its Secretary General Antonio Guterres who lives alone in a $15 million mansion on Manhattan's Sutton Place (where he favors Qatar state media Al Jazeera, using it to oust the independent Press which questions him.) This is the world of immunity and impunity and now, it is urged, confidentiality. Inner City Press, now covering the SDNY daily, will have more on this. 

Near UN Inner City Press Asked Guterres CAR Rep Why Rapes ...

In SDNY Racketeering Trial Witness Against Nice Hair Joe Admits Blinding Sushi Bar Owner

By Matthew Russell Lee

SDNY COURTHOUSE, February 26 – In the rackeeting trial of Joe Cammarano in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 25, government witness Peter Lovaglio spent the morning fielding questions from prosecutor Jason Swergold -- and, for the second day, from SDNY Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. When Lovaglio described his current eight year New York State jail sentence he recounted being insulted by the step son of the owner of a sushi restaurant owner on Staten Island. "I assaulted him with a glass," Lovaglio deadpanned. The man's eye no longer works, and he would not accept money to make the criminal complaint go away. Now Lovaglio is suing his NYPD handler for telling him not to take a lesser plea, for assuring him he wouldn't do a day in jail. He is in a "private detention facility." Judge Hellerstein wanted to know what they meant. It's a private prison. 

  Later in the morning, after several audio tapes Lovaglio recorded while wearing a wire for the government were played, he was asked to confirm that the Bonanno crime family used hand signals to refers to some people: an ear tug, the chin, and for the named defendant Joe Cammarano, a hand sweeping over the top of the head. Why, Judge Hellerstein asked. 

  "Because he has nice hair," Lovaglio shrugged. Cammarano and some sitting behind him laughed, seemingly with pride. Listening to Lovaglio try to get associates to talk for his audio recorder, one wondered if the jury will wonder if he isn't playing them, too. But if he lies he loses the prospect of the Fed's helping him on the racketeering he's pled to, with e 5K letter.  Watch this site. 

In SDNY Racketeering Trial Tales of 400% Interest Loans and Johnny Sideburns Clean Shaven

By Matthew Russell Lee

SDNY COURTHOUSE, February 25 – In the rackeeting trial of Joe Cammarano in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 25, government witness Peter Lovaglio spent the afternoon fielding questions from prosecutor Jason Swergold -- and from SDNY Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. When Lovaglio described a loan of $200,000 at four percent a week and mentioned a "Johnny Sideburns" whose photograph was put on-screen for the jury, Judge Hellerstein had two questions. "Where are the sideburns?" he asked. There were none in the photo.    

"We just give nicknames," Lovaglio said. When Hellerstein said that a weekly interest rate of four points was 100% a year, Lovaglio deadpanned, I think it's more, Judge. And so it is: not unlike the payday loans that the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is settling on without restitution...    After the jury left for the day, Judge Hellerstein gave a preview of the coming day: he would allow in evidence about Lovaglio's credibility but not "collateral" attacks, nor information about a separate lawsuit Lovaglio has filed in state court against his handler. Watch this site. 

In SDNY Sentence of Life Plus Five Years Imposed For Bronx Murder of Jessica White Amid Courtroom Screams

By Matthew Russell Lee

SDNY COURTHOUSE, February 25 – A prison sentence of life plus five years was imposed for a Bronx murder by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Chief Judge Colleen McMahon on February 25. She presided over the trial in which Stiven Siri-Reynoso was convicted of, among other things, murder in aid of racketeering for the death of Jessica White, a 28 year old mother of three, in the Bronx in 2016. Jessica White's mother was in the court room; she was greeted by Judge McMahon but declined to speak before sentencing. Siri-Reynoso was representing himself by this point, with a back-up counsel by his side. Judge McMahon told him, "You're a very smart man... a tough guy, a calculating person... You are a coward, sent a child to do it for you... Your emissary shot the wrong person, a lovely lady... It was a vicious, evil attack against the good people of that neighborhood." When she imposed the life plus five sentence, a woman on the Jessica White side of the courtroom cried out, yes Ma'am, put the animal away! Later, after Siri-Reynoso ended asking how he can get more documents about the case, a woman on his side of the courtroom said, "No te preocupes, muchacho, Dios sabe lo que hace" - don't worry, God knows what he is doing. But does He? 

In SDNY Judge Koeltl Grills Government on Special Immigrant Juvenile Policy Switch Laughter in Overflow Room

By Matthew Russell Lee

FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, February 25– When the government tried to defend its 2018 change of policy or practice on Special Immigrant Juvenile status in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 25, Judge John G. Koeltl had many questions about the change. He asked, are you saying that all the decisions before 2018 were just wrong, under a policy in place but not implemented at the time? In the overflow courtroom 15C the largely young audience laughed, as the government lawyer tried to say it wasn't a change of policy but rather an agency interpretation of the statute. Shouldn't there have been notice and comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act? The government said the argument proffered for this was about the Freedom of Information Act (on which, as Inner City Press has noted, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has similarly reversed its policy 180 degrees without justification). SDNY Judge Koeltl demanded t know if the government is arguing that no juvenile court in New York, California (and maybe Texas for other reasons he said) is empowered to grant relief. The answer was far from clear - but where the ruling is going does seem so. Watch this site. The Bangladeshi Central Bank which was hacked for $81 million in February 2016, on January 31 sued in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Now the first pre-trial conference in the case has been set, for 2 April 2019 before SDNY Judge Lorna G. Schofield. Inner City Press will be there. 

Chad Rebellion Against Deby Makes It To New Yorker But Not UN Briber CEFC Offering Deby Weapons Guterres Link

By Matthew Russell Lee, HK

UNITED NATIONS GATE, February 6 – After France starting bombing in Chad again this month to prop up long time president Idriss Deby, Inner City Press twice in writing asked the UN for comment on that, and on UN briber China Energy Fund Committee's offer of weapons to Deby. Typically, there has been no answer. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has refused to audit CEFC despite Inner City Press asking him about it for a year, and getting roughed up and banned from the UN amid its questions. Now The Yorker's Ben Taub has written about the rebel force that France has been bombing, led by Timane Erdimi who lives in, and is reportedly armed by, Qatar. The piece is good, but that it does not even mention the UN much less UN briberChina Energy Fund Committee is telling. Thus does the UN get over. Inner City Press, before its ouster by the conflicted Guterres, accompanied a UN Security Council trip including to Ndjamena. There, Libya's ambassador told it that Chad had decayed more and more under Deby. French Ambassador Jean Maurice Ripert told the other ambassador that Deby would come to meet them - then after hours Deby did not show, amid dark talk about what he was in fact doing. Ripert ended up jabbing his finger in this reporter's chest at the airport in Kigali, demanding to know why it wrote what it did. Eventually the UN couldn't handle such coverage and threw Inner City Press out, without a hearing or appeal. The New Yorker covered Inner City Press as UN blogger, but not (yet?) its ouster. Tomorrow Guterres gives a speech about his supposed commitment to press freedom. The UN is corrupt - Guterres has declined to audit CEFC after it was shown to have used its UN status to offer weapons to Deby. Inner City Press is uploading the text message here. On February 6 Inner City Press has asked Guterres, Alison Smale, Amina J. Mohammed and their spokesman Stephane Dujarric, "February 6-2: On Chad and France, including in light of evidence UN NGO China Energy Fund Committee offered weapons for oil to Idriss Deby, what is the SG's comment and action on that The French air force made strikes in the East of the country on Sunday. French jets have repelled a rebel convoy of 40 vehicles heading towards the capital of Chad from Libya, the French government has said. Two flights of Mirage 2000 fighter-bombers hit the column of pick-up trucks 250 miles into Chad territory?" No answer at all - they are part of FrancAfrique, as in Cameroon. In the UN bribery prosecution by the US against Patrick Ho of China Energy Fund Committee, both prosecution and defense did their summations on December 4. On December 5 at 2 pm the jurors quickly found Ho guilty on seven of the eight changes against him: all five under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering and conspiracy for the Uganda scheme with Sam Kutesa and Museveni but NOT for money laundering in Chad There the payment was $2 million in cash - it was never laundered.  The UN has yet to act: it has left CEFC accredited while banning the Press that reported on it, and on this (CEFC moving to violate Iran sanctions). On December 4 prosecutor Daniel Richenthal did a rebuttal on both the Chad and Uganda schemes. Richenthal tried to rehabilitate Cheikh Gadio, saying the money he took from an unnamed courier from a businessman was only $20,000 and that Gadio hadn't lied about it. He emphasized the emails as evidence and ended with a photo of Ho with Uganda's oil minister, looking at a map of sites. Ho paid to be there, Richenthal said. This is what bribery looks like. Judge Loretta Preska deliverd a nearly two hour jury charge, including the Uganda anti-corruption law that must mena little, if Kutesa hasn't been charged under it. Th jury will returned at 10 am on December 5, now a Federal holiday in honor of George H.W. Bush (who nominated Preska). Defense attorney Edward Kim urged them to request and review many exhibits, and it's to some of those that Inner City Press will not turn. Watch this site. It still seems that the US does not know if the gift boxes CEFC brought to Kampala on its jet included $500,000 in cash. Prosecutor Douglas Zolkind said it doesn't matter. But it surely did matter to Museveni - and to the Ugandan people, if they and their votes matter (see, e.g., Bobi Wine). And it mattered to the defense, whose Edward Kim made much of the $500,000 discrepancy, as well as calling Gadio a liar. Next up: Richenthal for the prosecution, and the charge. On the afternoon of December 3 the jury charge was agreed to, after the defense temporarily argued that "New York, New York" might not be in Manhattan and thus in the Southern District's jurisdiction. Prosecutor Daniel Richenthal said he was ready to re-open his case to prove the 60 Wall Street, where Deutsche Bank is, is in fact in Manhattan. Defense attorney Benjamin Rosenberg said, after a time, "We won't make that objection. Judge Preska said, "That's a wise move." She also asked if the exhibits had been made available. Inner City Press replied Not yet, which remains the case as least as to it as of 6:35 pm the night before summations. (Before 9 am Inner City Press had written requesting particular exhibits, on which we will have more.) 

  Despite Wednesday's national holiday in honor of George H.W. Bush (of whom Judge Preska spoke a number of times during Tuesday's down-times), Ho will on that day be produced (legalese requiring translation from the largely Hong Kong media left) the jury will deliberate. We'll be there. There was hardly any defense, other than the explosive cross examination of Senegal's former foreign minister Cheikh Gadio (who admitted taking cash from an undisclosed businessman for his previous presidential campaign). The government finally put into evidence CEFC's purchase of Apartment 78B in Trump World Tower, which PGA Vuk Jeremic, Gadio and others visited. There were weapons for oil offers prepared inside the UN. The jury will be charged on December 4. on the morning of November 30 the prosecution  detailed how CEFC bought UN PGA Sam Kutesa - and played an audio wiretap of Ho discussing bribing UN PGA John Ash with Sheri Yan, who did jail time in the first UN bribery case of Ng Lap Seng. As to Uganda, CEFC instead of $500,00 case did a wire transfer - it was cheaper, through pliant HSBC bank which also money launders for Mexican drug cartels - and there was Ho, in purple like today, as Museveni's inauguration. He brought gift with him - a vase, painting, what locked to be a clock - to a dinner at Kutesa's residence. Then the prosecution flashed a list of the times Ho entered the UN - the UN has that information, you see, though they refused to provide it when Inner City Press asked, as to Francis Lorenzo, Ho and Carlos Garcia, preferring to ban Inner City Press. The prosecution left for Monday showing the agreement under which CEFC and its missing Chairman Ye bought unit 78B in Trump World Tower. After a wan cross examination by Ho's lawyer Benjamin Rosenberg (Judge Preska essentially shut him down), the jury was told they may get the case as early as Wednesday, when Antonio Guterres like his predecessor will be put up for sale at Cipriani on 42nd Street. This week, along with the depths of UN corruption, revealed how in China the formal government has a murky relationship with quasi state firms like CEFC, which on the one hand paved Xi's way into the Czech Republic and on the other, tried to get Chad's Deby to "make" Chinese state oil company CNPC to get it a piece of the action, perhaps for the Defense Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, presumably the sources of the weapons and drones CEFC was offering to Deby and others in Libya and South Sudan. This is the NGO that Antonio Guterres has refused to audit and keeps in the UN while roughing up and banning Inner City Press. Kutesa's sale of the UN began through previous PGA Vuk Jeremic, who told Kutesa it would be "win - win" with CEFC. Then Ho emailed Kutesa's chief of staff Arthur Kafeero, whom Inner City Press wrote about before being banned from even entering the UN by UNSG Antonio Guterres. Later Ho did his emailing with Sam's wife Edith Gasana Kutesa, who asked for money to supposedly make good on an electoral campaign to  pledge help Kutesa's young constituents (although she also bragging that Kutesa had no opposing candidate). She wrote, Youth are impatient - so send me the money! Ho arranged for $500,000 while pitching Edith on all the things (and people) CEFC had bought in Czech Republic. As Inner City Press reported and asked about before being roughed up and banned by UNSG Antonio Guterres, the Czech Ambassador headed ECOSOC, which refused to even look into CEFC's accreditation after Ho's arrest. CEFC used the UN to pitch weapons to dictators. And Guterres is covering up for them. Ho met Kutesa and his son Isaac for three hours in the PGA office - the type of entry Guterres is trying to prevent coverage of - and as his "PGA residence." Ho would email Kafeera and be scheduled as  speaker at the UN, which under Guterres took CEFC's $1 million even AFTER Ho was arrested. The UN of Guterres is corrupt. Periscope video here. Also on November 30, finishing up on the Chad scheme with FBI Agent Galicia, a CEFC web page with Bill Clinton was shown. We'll have more on this. On November 29, Senegal's former Foreign Minister Cheikh Gadio admitted he took $20,000 from an unnamed courier from a businessman he did not want to identify. Then Gadio pushed a journalist in the street and told Inner City Press he would answer its questions later. Video here (YouTube), shorter (Twitter). But if that seemed to give home to Ho, the upcoming Uganda scheme should not. Whether not a disputed prosecution chart comes into evidence, the undelying timeline is damning. Ho for CEFC told then UN President of the General Assembly Vuk Jeremic, who was already working for CEFC, that they wanted to meet his successor Sam Kutesa of Uganda. This culminated, while Kutesa was still UN PGA, in CEFC's chairman Ye Jianming being named a special adviser to the United Nations PGA. This is disgusting, given that CEFC was pushing weapons to Idriss Deby in Chad. More disgusting, Ho used Ye's inroaded into the Czech Republic, whose ambassador to the UN, chairing UN ECOSOC, refused to act on ECOSOC accredited CEFC even after Ho was arrested. Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric played their cover up roles in this. We'll have more on all this. 

In Mali Three UN Troops From Guinea Killed Near Siby But Guterres and Germany No Answers

By Matthew Russell Lee, UN, CJR PFTracker

UNITED NATIONS GATE, February 23 – In Mali there was an attack near Siby on UN peacekeepers from Guinea, killing three, and now UNSG Antonio Guterres, from location undisclosed, expressed concern while refusing all questions. Likeness his spokesman Stephane Dujarric refused any answer on the reported shooting of Malian soldier(s) by German UN peacekeepings, which Inner City Press asked about in writing on February 18 (and asked the German PR at the UN Gate on February 21, Periscope video here). Here's from UNSC statement: "The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack perpetrated on 22 February 2019 against a vehicle carrying peacekeepers from MINUSMA near Siby (region of Bamako), which resulted in 3 peacekeepers from Guinea killed and another injured.     The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims, as well as to Guinea and to MINUSMA. They wished a speedy and full recovery to the peacekeeper who was injured. They paid tribute to the peacekeepers who risk their lives.     The members of the Security Council called on the Government of Mali to swiftly investigate this attack and bring the perpetrators to justice. They underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. They stressed that involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring or conducting attacks against MINUSMA peacekeepers constitutes a basis for sanctions designations pursuant to United Nations Security Council  resolutions." What about the Malian soldier(s) shot by peacekeepers from UNSC member Germany? Answers are needed from Germany. And still no answers on UN Peacekeeping despite lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric's on camerapromise. This is fraud. At  Guterres' Press-less press conference on January 18 no one allowed in even asking about Mali, much less Idriss Deby who was handed $2 million in a gift box by CEFC China Energy which tried to buy Partex Oil from Guterres' Gulbenkian Foundation. While local media puts the number killed at 10 or higher, the last statement by the UN Mission MINUSMA, in French only, puts it at eight. So Inner City Press wrote to the UN Office of the Spokesperson, ostensibly staffed, with a simple "Press request for the UN's current estimate of casualties in the attack in Mali." An hour later, nothing - despite lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric's promise on camera that questions would be answered. Later there was a canned statement from Guterres' spokesperson's office, then one from the Security Council, beginning "The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack perpetrated on 20 January 2019 against the camp of MINUSMA in Aguelhok, which resulted in 10 peacekeepers from Chad killed and several others injured, in spite of the robust response from MINUSMA.     The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims, as well as to Chad and to MINUSMA. They wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured. They paid tribute to the peacekeepers who risk their lives.     The members of the Security Council called on the Government of Mali to swiftly investigate this attack and bring the perpetrators to justice. They underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. They stressed that involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring or conducting attacks against MINUSMA peacekeepers constitutes a basis for sanctions designations pursuant to United Nations Security Council resolutions.." Here was Guterres' spokesperson:  "The Secretary-General strongly condemns the complex attack against the camp of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) this morning in Aguelhok, Kidal region. Ten peacekeepers from Chad were killed and at least 25 injured.  MINUSMA forces responded robustly and a number of assailants were killed.     The Secretary-General conveys his heartfelt condolences to the Government of Chad, and the families and loved ones of the deceased. He wishes a swift recovery to the injured and pays tribute to the dedication and courage of the men and women serving in MINUSMA at great personal risk and sacrifice.      The Secretary-General calls on the Malian authorities, as well as the signatory armed groups to the peace agreement, to spare no effort in identifying the perpetrators of this attack so that they can be brought to justice as swiftly as possible. He recalls that attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. The Secretary-General reaffirms that such acts will not diminish the resolve of the United Nations to continue supporting the people and Government of Mali in their efforts to build peace and stability in the country." We will have more on this. How badly is today's UN and international system run? As to Mali, a once and again French colony, when the UN Security Council met on January 16, French Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre took the lead and said he would propose a Council press statement after the meeting. And before day's end, in the process by which the UN and Security Council allow former colonial powers to continue their rule from the sword to the pen, a statement was issued, below. France will lead a trip there in March, accompanied by its media to be sure, and probably another Council member co-sponsoring as a fig leaf of decolonization. This is the UN, under Antonio Guterres. On December 20 a UN press release said that "The members of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2374 (2017) concerning Mali... decided that 3 individuals be placed on the 2374 sanctions list and be subject to a travel ban measure, as imposed by paragraph 1 to 3 of resolution 2374 (2017) and renewed by paragraph 1 of resolution 2432 (2018)." But a visit to the Committee's website at 7:25 pm found the statement, "As of today, no individuals or entities have been designated by the Committee." Earlier, Inner City Press exclusively exposed the handing of the UN Security Council webpages to the photographer husband of the chief of staff of DPA chief Rosemary DiCarlo. OIOS never responded to Inner City Press, which was then roughed up by Antonio Guterres' Security on 3 July 2018 and has been banned 196 days since. And here's from the UNSC's - or France's - January 16 statement: "The members of the Security Council were briefed on 16 January 2019 by the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Bintou Keita, on the situation in Mali.     The members of the Security Council welcomed the recent positive steps achieved in the implementation of the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali (“the Agreement”), including through: the establishment of 10 district-level interim administrations in the Kidal, Ménaka and Timbuktu regions; the launch of an accelerated disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and integration process for 1,423 combatants; the holding of a second high-level meeting on the implementation of the defense and security pillar of the Agreement, which allowed further progress towards the definition of a common vision on the reconstituted Malian defense and security forces, the establishment of a regional territorial police force and of anti-terror special units, and the modalities of conduct of the disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and integration and of the security sector reform processes; as well as the establishment of a working group on the participation of women in the peace process, under the leadership of MINUSMA.     The members of the Security Council commended the Malian parties for the establishment of a weekly coordination framework between representatives of the Government of Mali, the Plateforme coalition of armed groups and the Coordination des Mouvements de l’Azawad coalition of armed groups (“the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups”), under the authority of the Minister for Social Cohesion, Peace and National Reconciliation. They welcomed the mobilization of the Prime Minister in support to the implementation of the Agreement. They called upon all Malian stakeholders to unite their efforts following President Keita’s reelection and work together to promote sustainable peace, human rights, and tackle the security and development challenges facing Mali.     The members of the Security Council expressed a significant sense of impatience with parties over the persistent delays in the full implementation of key provisions of the Agreement. They urged the Government of Mali and the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups to take immediate and concrete action to effectively implement the remaining key provisions of the Agreement referenced in paragraph 4 of resolution 2423 (2018) which have not yet been implemented.     The members of the Security Council recalled the provisions of resolution 2423 (2018) requesting the Secretary-General to report 6 months after the presidential inauguration on progress in the implementation of the Agreement and expressing the intent of the Security Council, in the absence of significant progress, to request the Secretary-General to provide options for potential significant adaptation of MINUSMA after the expiration of its current mandate. They further recalled the provisions of resolution 2423 (2018) expressing the intention of the Security Council to follow closely the timely implementation of the Roadmap adopted on 22 March 2018 and to respond with measures pursuant to resolution 2374 (2017) should the parties not implement the agreed-upon commitments within the announced timeframe. They recalled, in this context, the listing decision of 20 December 2018 of the 2374 sanctions Committee. They stressed that all parties to the Agreement share the primary responsibility to make steadfast progress in its implementation.     The members of the Security Council expressed growing concerns about the continued deterioration of the security situation in Central Mali. They strongly condemned the continued attacks, including terrorist attacks, against civilians, representatives from local, regional and State institutions, as well as national, international and UN security forces." There is other corruption and mismanagement: Canada made a lot of noise about committing to UN Peacekeeping, perhaps because it is running for a UN Security Council seat (against Norway and Ireland), and/or to show Justin Trudeau's commitment to multi-lateralism. But after a belated deployment to Mali, it seems to quickly be coming to an end. And according to Canada's defense minister Harjit Sajjan, the UN hasn't even asked Canada to stay on contrary to the UN's answer to Inner City Press last week.  Inner City Press, banned 138 days and counting from the UN by SG Antonio Guterres (for it seems what Trudeau called "bad behavior," video here, asking a question about Canadian support to Saudi Arabia's war on Yemen), on November 16 asked Guterres' spokesmen: "November 16- 2: On Mali, please confirm or deny that (1) Canada's deployment on medevac and otherwise ends in July; separately (2) that Canada has indicated it will leave in July; (3) that Romania might replace, but not until October, and (4) what the UN intends to do for wounded peacekeepers between those dates." Past 5 pm Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq replied: "Regarding question Nov. 16-2, we have seen the press reports. Canada’s contributions to Mali, including helicopters and attached military personnel, are critical to the Mission’s ability to conduct medical evacuations and rescue wounded peacekeepers as well as for uninterrupted military enabling capabilities. DPKO is exploring various options, including engaging with Canada and other troop contributing countries, to ensure there is continuing 24/7 casualty evacuation support when Canada’s current mission is expected to end in July next year." Can the UN be "exploring" with even asking Canada to stay? Inner City Press, still banned, on November 19 asked in writing: "November 19-6: Given your Nov 16 answer at 5 pm about Canada, please immediatley respond to this: “Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said he has not been asked by the United Nations to extend Canada’s peacekeeping mission in Mali, which is set to end in July.Despite reports that Canada is resisting a behind-the-scenes UN request to extend the Mali deployment, Sajjan told CTV Question Period host Evan Solomon that while he keeps in regular contact with the UN Secretary General, he has yet to be asked to extend the mission in the war-torn West African country. “I have not been asked by the United Nations,” Sajjan said." From Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, at and after the briefing, no answer. This is today's UN - and Canadian government? When Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke on the topic of Women, Peace and Security at German House on September 26, she joked that the audience were the wonkishly converted and urged those present to more directly engage with those who think differently. She said the UN General Assembly wee so far had featured robust attacks on multilateralism - the reference, it seemed clear, was to Donald Trump - but that countries like Canada and Germany must work together to confront it. She cited the #MeToo movement, but not the UN's dismal response to sexual harassment in its ranks, at UNAIDS and UNFPA. Periscope video here. Also speaking were Heiko Maas, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Germany; Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Namibia; Josep Borrell, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Spain. A moderator was Karin Landgren whose served among other places in Burundi and who's quoted a colleague, "'Our dissent channel is Inner City Press,' joked a UN colleague, referring to a journalist known for asking difficult questions." With that channel under assault, literally, what will Landgren and these countries do? But that's another story, like this one from earlier on September 26: When Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis help a press availability early on September 26, Inner City Press went to ask him something it first asked the UN, about complaints that despite invitations to Geneva by the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances victims from Biafra and Ambazonia in Cameroon were denied visas by the Swiss embassy in Abuja, Nigeria. 

Cassis said he was unaware of the issue but to ask the consul general. He was otherwise responsive, about the political consideration in Switzerland about arms transfers -- the country's former UN Ambasssador Peter Maurer, now heading the ICRC, this week called for review as to Yemen -- and the North Korea process.

 Is Switzerland on the short list to host the second round of talks between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump? Cassis replied he didn't know where on the list the Swiss are but that they play a unique role. He repeated this as to Iran, where Switzerland represents the US' interests. Here were his bilateral meetings:

1045  EU High Representative Federica Mogherini

1100  Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel, Algeria
1230 Foreign Minister Osman Mohammed Saleh, Eritrea 

1300 Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva, Portugal

1330 EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn

1430 Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi, Pakistan

1530 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russian Federation 

1700 Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates

  It's UNGA madness, in four languages. We hope to have more on this.