UN Fraud Cited by Swiss and Group of 77, Zero Tolerance in Doubt As On UN Rapes

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 8 -- Accountability, or really UN-accountability, was the topic when the UN Fifth (Budget) Committee met on March 8, amid a major bribery scandal and the continuing shame of UN Peacekeeper rapes in the Central African Republic and elsewhere.

  Thailand's Sirithon Wairatpanij for the Group of 77 and China said "the Group emphasizes its full support on the zero-tolerance approach for all fraudulent acts."

  Switzerland was more specific, saying that "in light of recent events, most notably the alleged bribery of the former President of the General Assembly, we believe that it is important to renew the Organization’s commitment to a zero-tolerance approach towards fraudulent acts."

  But is the scandal just about the former PGA John Ashe? He and Ng Lap Seng, including through Frank Lorenzo's South South News and Sheri Yan's Global Sustainability Foundation, bought documents from Ban Ki-moon's Secretariat, for example the "reissued for technical reasons" switch to the GA document about a South South center in Macau.

  Zero tolerance? The person who made just this switch has yet to be identified. It's like the UN's supposed zero-tolerance for sexual abuse, while UN Peacekeeping chief links rapes to "R&R."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric on February 9, when asked by Inner City Press how now-indicted Frank Lorenzo came to use and have his photo taken in the UN Press Briefing Room on September 8, 2011 while it never appeared in the UN Media Alert, simply refused to answer. Video here.

  “I'm done answering questions,” Dujarric said, cutting Inner City Press off and calling on Voice of America's correspondent (see previous correspondence here) for an unrelated, mere scheduling question.

  On February 19, moments after Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Dujarric about UN cover-ups in South Sudan, lack of transparency on Burundi and financial mismanagement -- its UN identification pass was flagged as "deactivated" and would not open the gate to access the UN Security Council stakeout.

Then Inner City Press was given two hours to leave by USG Cristina Gallach, was thrown out into First Avenue by UN Security, and Banned from all UN premises.

  After two lawyer's letters, a petition and more, Inner City Press re-entered on February 25 with unfairly reduced access and asked Dujarric, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: Can you say now when the… the… the long-delayed OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] audit of the contacts between Ng Lap Seng, Frank Lorenzo, Global Sustainability Foundation and Sun Kian Ip Foundation and UN-affiliated entities will be completed?

Spokesman:  My understanding on the OIOS investigation on this… in the Secretariat should be ready next month.

 We'll see.

   Inner City Press back on February 10 asked Dujarric what questions it is, what he and the UN will not answer. Video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: I'm trying to figure out what questions will be answered and which ones won't be answered.  So, I'm going to preface this in an entirely different way.  As you know, Frank Lorenzo has been indicted.  The allegation is that his South-South News funneled money and was part of a bribery conspiracy at the UN.  There is a photograph of the Secretary-General receiving from Mr. Frank Lorenzo an award statue in October 2011 after an event [in the UN Press Briefing Room, not on the UN Media Alert.]  Either, do you have any comment or, logistically, is there any thinking within the Secretariat of what should be done with gifts given by this now controversial organization, part of the indictment?

Spokesman Dujarric:  As you know, we are conducting an audit of the relationship between a number of those people who were named in the indictments and UN entities.  That is ongoing.  Hopefully, it should be finished soon, and we'll see where that leads us.  Okay.

 We'll have more on this.

   Lorenzo is a major figure in the corruption scandal surrounding the UN under Ban Ki-moon, along with former President of the General Assembly John Ashe and Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, who after funneling money the UN Correspondents Association (including through Lorenzo's South South News) got a photo op with Ban at an UNCA event at Cipriani.

    So how can Dujarric, the spokesman, simply refuse to answer factual questions about how Lorenzo gained access to the UN Press Briefing Room without being listed in the UN Media Alert, to which Dujarric begrudgingly referred Inner City Press on February 8? How has the UN sunk this low?

The  UN still won't provide a simple list of when and to whom it “lent” the UN Press Briefing Room, from the “reservation” Spokesman Dujarric gave to the entourage of French President Hollande on September 23, 2014 until his murky “lending” of the UN Press Briefing Room to UNCA on January 29, 2016 and subsequent ejection of Inner City Press.

 On February 8, Inner City Press asked Dujarric for the list of times he or his Office have “lent” out the UN Press Briefing Room, since he said on February 1 that “who gets to use this room is really my decision.”

  But Dujarric refused to provide the list, instead telling Inner City Press that a list of “public” uses of the room could be compiled from UN MALU (Media Accreditation and Liasion Unit) Media Alerts. Video here.

  Inner City Press asked Dujarric why he participated in the September 23, 2014 event by French President Francois Hollande from which Inner City Press was asked to leave, video here -- Dujarric did not answer this, more on this to come -- and about one sample use of the Press Briefing Room.

  Frank Lorenzo, now indicted for bribery at the UN and found not to be immune, was for example in the UN Press Briefing Room on September 8, 2011, about the South South Awards / South South News, funded by also indicted Ng Lap Seng and a funder of the UN Correspondents Association.

   Dujarric said go look at the MALU Media Alerts. But digging up the MALU Media Alert for September 8, 2011, there was NO mention or Lorenzo or South South News or Awards. Dujarric's answer, even by its own terms, doesn't hold water. We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

On February 5 Inner City Press asked Dujarric's Deputy Farhan Haq about the ruling in the UN corruption cases that Frank Lorenzo is NOT immune. (John Ashe is also claiming immunity.) Inner City Press asked Haq if the UN Press Briefing Room, already “lent” to another fundee of indicted Ng Lap Seng, UNCA, was ever lent to Lorenzo. Video here.

  Haq replied, again without checking, that “if” Lorenzo had ever been in the UN Press Briefing Room, it would have been as Deputy Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic. But Lorenzo also led Ng-funded “South South News,” which gave money to UNCA; the indictment and ruling are based on things Lorenzo is described as doing NOT in his official capacity as DPR of the Dominican Republic. We'll have more on this.

  For now, here is a photo of now non-immune Lorenzo with Ban Ki-moon, with another employee and banner of the South South Awards. It is UNacceptable that the UN, Dujarric's and Haq's Office, have refused to provide basic information upon request. So much for transparency. See the February 5 UN transcript.

  UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq on February 4  instead of even purporting to answer Inner City Press' questions openly guessed at the motivation of the questions. Vine here, full video here. The question concerned Ng Lap seng, indicted for bribery at the UN; Haq said if you can look into corruption at the UN Correspondents Association (a Ng fundee who was lent the room on January 29), go do so.

  But the UN has said it is auditing Ng's and Sheri Yan's dealings with and at the UN, which must include UNCA, which is given a large UN room, and the Press Briefing Room too, off the record sit-downs with Ban Ki-moon (two of whose closest associates were at the founding of Yan's Global Sustainability Foundation), and sells seats with Ban for $6,000.

  Haq refused to answer. Inner City Press aksed, When does Stephane [Dujarric, the lead spokesman who said who gets to use the Press Briefing Room is really his decision] get back? "Whenever he wants," Haq said. This is today's UN. We'll have more on this.

 On February 3, Inner City Press for the second day in a row asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq to provide a list of to whom his office, or simply lead UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, “lent” the UN Press Briefing Room. Haq on February 3 now said there is no list, but they have the information.

  So Inner City Press asked a question about the information: has the UN Press Briefing Room been “lent” to any affiliate or fundee of Ng Lap Seng or the Global Sustainability Foundation, named in the US Attorney's corruption indictment.

  Haq said, “No.” But since the UN Press Briefing Room was, Dujarric said, “lent to UNCA” on January 29, and UNCA has taken funds from Ng Lap Seng's entities, Inner City Press asked Haq if he was sure.

  Haq insisted that money is not asked for to lend the UN Press Briefing Room. But that was not the question: has it been lent to a grantee of Ng Lap Seng.

   As Inner City Press was still asking, Reuters' UN correspondent Michelle Nichols, holding Reuters' apparently Permanent seat on the UNCA board, cut in, saying “You're clutching at straws.” Video here



  Inner City Press was not asking Reuters any question. On February 2, the former Reuters UN bureau chief cut in, as did the Agence France Presse correspondent Carole Landry (who is also on UNCA's board). We'll have more on this.

  Dujarric didn't show up at the February 2 noon briefing, so Inner City Press had to ask his Deputy, Farhan Haq. The UNCA representative, Reuters retiree Evelyn Leopold, immediately tried to cut off the question with a loud, “Here we go again.” (This was echoed afterward by Carole Landry the English language correspondent of Agence France Presse, silent when the UN Press Briefing Room was given over to Hollande and others were asked to leave). Here's Periscope of the glass box the AFP scribe "reports" Inner City Press was "hidden" in; here's February 2 video:


 UN transcript.

    This shows why there should be a UN Freedom of Information Act, something which while requested by the Free UN Coalition for AccessBan Ki-moon has tellingly done nothing about during his opaque tenure.

   Instead of providing this basic information, Haq claimed Inner City Press is “mudding the waters” of having covered the January 29 meeting of UNCA, including about this group's offering of space in the UN to those who pay it money, from an entirely visible, glassed in box, from which Inner City Press live-tweeted and live-streamed Periscope video.Here's saved Periscope video of what this “hiding place” looks like. 

  We'll have more on this - and will continue to pursue the list of UN privatization of the Press Briefing Room. Watch this site.

 But UN Spokesman Stepane Dujarric on February 1, when Inner City Press asked him under what rule he had given over the UN Press Briefing Room to the UNCA groups which charged $6,000 to sit with Ban, said “who gets to use this room is really my decision.” Vine here.

   Really? The use of the UN Press Briefing Room is decided, without any rules, by this one individual? The same individual who often dodges Inner City Press' questions by saying “It's up to member states”?

   But there are other problems here. After Dujarric previously lent the UN Press Briefing Room on September 23, 2014 to the entourage of the president of Dujarric's native France Francois Hollande, video here, it was then indicated that it wouldn't happen again. 

  Then on September 25, 2014 when Inner City Press asked Dujarric “please state which countries during this UNGA have used the UN Press Briefing Room for briefing not open to all UN correspondents, other than France at 11 am on September 23. (Also, what was your role on September 23 around 11 am in the room behind the Press Briefing Room podium?)”

  Dujarric replied, in writing, “I dont have the information on the first point for you. On the second, I'm not sure that I understand it except that I was just looking into the room. I tend to be a curious person.”

   Dujarric “didn't have the information” on private use of the UN Press Briefing Room, which use he says “is really my decision”? We'll have more on this.

  On Wall Street in December 2015, the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA) sold seats with Ban Ki-moon for $6,000 ($12,000 for a full table). Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric how this could be and was first told, As long as it's transparent.

 UNCA previously took money from Macau-based casino magnate Ng Lap Seng, now under house arrest for bribery at the UN, and gave him a photo op with Ban. Now the UN or at least Dujarric gave this UNCA, now the UN Corruption Association, its UN Press Briefing Room -- and on January 29 threw out the Press seeking to cover this meeting of a group that has sold the UN and Ban, amid scandals.

  On February 1, Inner City Press went to the next UN noon briefing to asked Dujarric what the rules for throwing media out of the UN Press Briefing Room are, and to explain his poking at Inner City Press' phone to stop its Periscope streaming broadcast of the event in the UN Press Briefing Room, video here, transcript here.

 Dujarric cut off questions, including about his "lending" of the UN Briefing Room to the entourage of France's Francois Hollande - which will continue. In fact, the UN omitted or censored Inner City Press' entirely audible question about  Hollande from the transcript. Dujarric made a threat. This is today's UN.

   (This Periscope video show how non-hidden this box is.)

 Sitting in a glassed in booth live-tweeting and livestreaming Periscope video cannot be called "hiding," even in the UN.

 Inner City Press pointed out the obvious: this booth is entirely glassed in and visible from the podium he spoke at, and from the rostrum used on January 29 by UNCA's head Giampaolo Pioli and two board members (one from US government Broadcasting Board of Governors, as is relevant to the censorship bid contrary to the US First Amendment.)

  Dujarric cut off Inner City Press' follow up question; uniquely the entire first row of the briefing room was this day filled with UNCA board members, two from Agence France Presse (they asked nothing), and Pioli, who also asked nothing. One wondered if Dujarric, who on January 29 told Inner City Press it should "join UNCA" arranged or collaborated with this dubious "show of force."

 At least, unlike January 29, Dujarric did not jab at Inner City Press' camera, and the Reuters correspondent who twice blocked the camera with paper on January 29 did not do so this time.

  One is left wondering if the UN's Dujarric believes he can eject any media, at any time, from any event in the UN Press Briefing Room, and if he, Reuters or UNCA will try the same camera-banning they engaged in on January 29 in the UN Press Briefing Room at the UN Security Council stakeout. Watch this site.

  At the January 29 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Dujarric about Ban's paid / sold appearances, transcript here.

  On January 29, UNCA leadership including Giampaoli Pioli, two scribes for the US Broadcasting Board of Governors, one from Reuters and others demanded that Inner City Press not cover a meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room.

  Suspending their meeting in which they discussed among other tawdry topics selling UN space to those who pay them money, UNCA called in UN Spokesman Dujarric and his deputy and then UN Security, who are the request of Dujarric asked Inner City Press to leave.

  There were ironies aplenty. Not only about a group of "correspondents" trying to close and make secret their meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room, but also that it was Dujarric who told Inner City Press that the UN Press Briefing Room would not again be "lent out," after Inner City Press challenged the lending out to French President Francois Hollande.

   Dujarric, deploying the F-bomb, Vine here, told Inner City Press, Yes, I am ordering you out, you can put it in your story. Vine here. He tried to turn Inner City Press' camera phone off. Vine here.

 His deputy, pointing at Inner City Press, told some of the scribes, "He lies a lot" -- after providing patently false answers about UN peacekeeping and other topics.

  The Voice of America correspondent Margaret Besheer, last seenclaiming there were Liberians in Burundi, to which in an untransparent process she (and Reuters and AFP) accompanied the recent Security Council trip, made comments which most contexts are deemed antithetical to free press. She's done it before (see this letter to Dujarric); she said "go on your meds."

  Pioli, landland to Sri Lanka's ambassador who then gave him an UNCA / "UN" screening to that country's war crimes denial film, insisted that to stand up for the right to cover meetings in the UN Press Briefing Room one must be crazy. He never asks questions: he's a landlord. See here. 
 Here's more to be said, but for now, here is the video.

 
 With the UN embroiled in scandals including the indictments of the former President of the General Assembly John Ashe and Macau businessman Ng Lap Seng and the founder of South South News, on December 14 the UN Correspondents Association sold seats with Ban Ki-moon for $6000.  Periscope I here;  Periscope II here.

UN corruption, never reformed, rises from the Ashes, courtesy of UNCA, now the UN Corruption Association.

  And yet, from inside Cipriani Wall Street, one of the musicians paid to play has an open mind, and when shown reporting on UN corruption asks, Should I make a scene? Tweet here.

 Just ask, who here paid $6000 as solicited by UNCA to sit with Ban Ki-moon. And why pay it? With Ng Lap Seng, it's clear.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Ban supports journalists. But the UNCA he's supporting tries to get them out of the UN. RSF did good work of late. But willful blindness does not help journalists.

The bureau chief of Voice of America, who previously tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN after it reported on UNCA corruption, the boss Giampaolo Pioli renting one of his apartments to Sri Lanka's ambassador then screening his war crimes denial film in the UN, this time seemed to give the finger, flip the bird to the press. Ah, journalism.

Is it journalism to solicit and take money from those you ostensibly cover? Where does it go? We'll have more on this.

  Earlier on December 14 UNCA lobbed three softball questions to Ban -- none on Burundi, for example -- from the former president of UNCA Pamela Falk, then the current vice president and finally the current questioner for UNCA. Inner City Press loudly asked a question about the killings in Burundi, which Ban declined to answer. Vine here.

  Inner City Press for the new Free UN Coalition for Access asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the propriety of UNCA selling seats with Ban. Dujarric said, "As long as it's transparent." Is that the standard?

One would expect the UN press corps, even the entity the UN itself chooses to set aside first questions for, to be pursuing rather than be involved in the scandals.

 One might also expect UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to be more cautious of colluding in events in which access to him  has been sold.

  But with the UN Correspondents Association, this year more than ever, that is not the case. The group or its leadership, headed by Italian paparazzi scribe Giampaolo Pioli who after trying to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN now covers actors like Morgan Freeman while others at his paper cover the UN, is selling seats with Ban Ki-moon for $6,000.

  In response to Press questions about this UNseemly sale of access, Ban's spokesman said "as long as it's transparent." Will that keep the indictments from expanding?

Inner City Press on December 11 spoke with indictee Frank Lorenzo,pictured here with Ban Ki-moon, as written up by "Italian News."


This year's sale of Ban, like to Ng Lap Seng in 2011, is an Italian job, run by pazarazzi / "correspondent" / landlord Giampaolo Pioli.

 How does this UNCA sleaze fest differ from the South South Awards, inextricably linked to the indictments of Ng Lap Seng, South South News' Frank Lorenzo and former President of the General Assembly John Ashe? Hardly at all. So what will happen? We'll have more on this.

Here is a photo of Ban Ki-moon at South South Awards with several indictees, here.

 For now we can report that at the December 11 closed door session on "Revitalization of the General Assembly," both the UN's Controller and Ban Ki-moon's new chief of staff Edmond Mulet made arguments for post-Ashe reforms that a number of member states found far too little. And Ban is slated to have seats next to him sold for $6000. We'll have more on this too.

  On December 10, days after Pioli used the large room the UN gives to UNCA, its UN Censorship Alliance, to campaign for a Security Council seat for his native Italy by giving out free meats, the view into the Club was blocked. So much for transparency.

 
  While calling for an audit of sale of UN access under John Ashe, should Ban openly allow access to him to be sold? He appears intent on doing so, or operating by inertia, on automatic pilot. Inner City Press now learns that Ban's twice delayed report on the cover up of peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic will be pushed further back, after the sell-out, buried. We'll have more on this.

 UNCA's awards, such as they gave to South South News for money, include awards and payments to entities who've served on their own Board.

  In 2011 under then (and now) president Giampaolo Pioli, UNCA took money from the South South News of now-indicted Ng Lap Seng, then gave South South News an UNCA award and gave Ng Lap Seng a photo op with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

  Now in November 2015, Pioli has solicited $6000 from UN Ambassadors for seats at the “VIP” table at the UNCA “Ball” on Wall Street: to sit with Ban Ki-moon. Here is UNCA's pitch:

"Dear Ambassador,

The United Nations Correspondents Association is honored to invite you to participate and contribute to the 20th annual UNCA Awards event with guest of honor U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, recipient of the 2015 Global Advocate of the Year Award for climate change.  Exclusive raffle prizes include business class airline tickets around the world with hotel accommodations and a grand prize FIAT 500X car. As your esteemed presence will ensure the success of this event, we are pleased to send you the below opportunities to attend the gala dinner:

Mission Table Special Price / $6000 (half-table) 5 seats at VIP table at the gala event
                                      
Special Ambassador Contribution / $2,000 -1 VIP ticket for Ambassador with premium seating to dinner + 1 complimentary VIP ticket for spouse or guest -Special acknowledgement of the Ambassador and the Mission in the UNCA Awards Journal of the evening -Additional tickets for UN Diplomats of the Mission can be purchased at the special price of $750 each

Giampaolo Pioli, UNCA President
Please make all checks payable to 'UNCA Awards Committee'
Contributions to the UNCA Awards Committee are tax deductible.
The UNCA Awards Committee is a 501-c(3)"

 This is precisely the type of sale of access involved in the indictments of Ng, Sheri Yan and Frank Lorenzo.

  While others are announcing audits and freezing such contacts, UNCA under Pioli is bulling forward, charging ever more money, getting ever further from journalistic purposes.

  On November 20, Pioli's UNCA circulated a list of candidates with no competition for any of the six officer positions. It also pre-announced its awards, including to Reuters (on its Board) and others. We'll have more on this.

    For the three running unopposed for five president slots, two were already on the UNCA board during the relevant time period; the other isPioli's former protege at Quotidiano Nazionale. It's an Italian thing.

   Running for Treasurer? It's Agence France Presse, whose previous correspondent tried to use a position on the UNCA board to censor Press coverage of Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop UN Peacekeeping.

  Reuters is in the mix, too, and another which joined Pioli in trying to censor coverage of Pioli unilaterally approving a Sri Lankan government war crimes denial film for a “UN” screening, after Pioli rented one of his apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN. This is UN. But amid the new scandals at the UN, this is something new: watch this site.



Footnote: Inner City Press after Pioli's and others censorship bid, and attempt to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN (uncovered along with documents still to be published by a Freedom of Information Act request, here, and questioned by the New York Civil Liberties Union), quit the UNCA board and co-founded, with another who'd quit UNCA as corrupt, the Free UN Coalition for Access.

 FUNCA does not seek any automatic first questions, but opposes the UN setting aside first questions for an entity which, as now shown, isenmeshed in the very UN scandals that must be asked about. Watch this site.

On Central African Republic Rapes, African Group & G77 Get Budget Committee Session, Ladsous Questions Raised

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 -- French soldiers in the Central African Republic allegedly sexually abused children, as exposed in a UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report leaked to the French government by longtime OHCHR staffer Anders Kompass. 

  The UN did not, however, give the report to the host country authorities in CAR. And according to UN documents, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous then urged that the whistleblower Kompass be made to resign. (Ladsous curtly denied this to Inner City Press, video here, then again refused to answer questions.)

  Now the UN's Ban Ki-moon administration will have to answer questions, though not through Ladsous who is conveniently out of town, and only behind closed doors. On May 15 Inner City Press learned from multiple sources that the African Group of UN member states have demanded answers from Ban's chief of staff Susana Malcorra (Ban is also out of town), in a closed session of the General Assembly's Fifth (Budget) Committee on May 18.  

  The wider Group of 77 and China joined in the request as well; diplomats of several European and Latin countries Inner City Press spoke with on May 15 say they too have questions, although their countries had not requested the session.

   The question now is, what will Malcorra have to answer? Key among this should be why the (French) head of UN Peacekeeping appears in the UN Dispute Tribunal ruling, Paragraph 9, trying to get the whistleblower fired. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights did not dispute this, and High Commissioner Zeid has called it "surprising." 

  How will Malcorra explain it? Can she? 

  There is also the troubling question of why the UN -- OHCHR and UNICEF -- did not tell Central African Republic authorities about the alleged rapes.  What does this say about the UN's relationship with and respect for host countries, particularly in Africa? Watch this site.

  On May 8, Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Samantha Power about both issues - the UN's failure to tell the CAR authorities, and Ladsous' "surprising" role, as High Commissioner Zeid put it earlier in the day. Video here and embedded below. Then Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, about the contradiction; for the first time, he gave a timeline. From the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: Iwant to ask you about these alleged rapes in the Central African Republic.  Prince Zeid [Ra’ad al-Hussein] held a press conference today.  Just as an aside, I would have liked to have seen it announced from here on this very topic.  And he said… he was asked directly about what I've been asking you about, the statement in the UN Dispute Tribunal ruling that the Under-Secretary-General of Peacekeeping asked the whistle-blower to resign.  And it was said, and this is why I want to ask you, because I know you said you don't agree with it, but this was a statement that was not contested at the time by the respondent.  So, this means that the UN… the people involved saw the claim and didn't have any problem with it.  I'm not saying that that means it's true.  When you say you don't agree with it, is that a personal position or a UN position?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I don't think I said I didn't agree with it.  I said you're taking it as fact.  It's his position.

Inner City Press:  Which the UN didn't disagree with.

Spokesman:  I'm just saying it's his position.

Inner City Press:  My question on this is, he said he'd like to say more, but would say it to some forthcoming, apparently, investigative commission.  Ambassador [Samantha] Power at the stakeout said the same thing, that all of this needs to be looked at independently.  So, what's the status of that?  Is the Secretariat having any role in that?

Spokesman Dujarric:  There's obviously the OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] inquiry going on into Mr. [Andres] Kompass and into everything related to that.  You know, I think the aim right now is to ensure accountability for the victims of these alleged rapes and horrendous abuse [that] these young children suffered at the hands the soldiers.  That's… that should be everyone's aim.  Obviously, there will come a time I think when we will need to take a look at how this issue was handled, but I will also add that there is obviously an internal investigation through OIOS and looking at Mr. Kompass.  At this point, I don't have anything to add.

Inner City Press:  The other thing… something you said yesterday was about this, there was no harm to the French investigation by not lifting immunity because they were written questions that were answered.  There's an article in Le Monde today that says that, yeah, written answers were provided seven months after the questions were proffered and was provided on 29 April, which just happened to be the date on which the exposé was first published.  I'm wondering… you can read Le Monde.  I can read it to you.  But, that's what they are saying, basically.

Spokesman:  You know, I think that there are different timelines going on here.  The prosecutor in Paris has his own timeline.  What I can tell you is that on 10 October, the Permanent Mission of France of the UN sent a note verbale to the Secretary-General, to the Office of Legal Counsel with a request from the… from a French judicial authority, a vice-prosecutor, confirming they had a hard copy of the report, which obviously had gone from Mr. Kompass, requesting for us to waive the immunity of the investigator, the OHCHR [Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights] investigator, who authored the report and allowed him to be interviewed.

Following consultations internally, which obviously involve the Mission in the Central African Republic, which involved OLA [Office of Legal Affairs], which involved UNICEF, which involved the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, we wrote back, saying that we will fully cooperate, that we are offering to send them a copy of the redacted report.  And again, here, I can't stress enough the importance of shielding the identities of the victims.  I mean, there are a number of countries in Europe, for example, where it is illegal to share the names of rape victims or of minors who have gone under child abuse, so I think that the issue of protecting the names of the witnesses and those who have been abused is primary.

We also told them that the chief investigator was right now serving in a post in Chile and will provide responses in writing to any questions put forward by French investigators.  We stressed that this cooperation was done on a voluntary basis without any prejudice to the issues of privileges and immunity. That was a letter that we wrote to the French authorities on 5 November.  On 6 February of 2015, we received a letter from the French mission transmitting, obviously, documents that had gone from their own judicial authorities, the written questionnaire and which was for the investigator and reiterating the request to lift the investigator's… the investigator's immunity.  That was on 6 February.

On 30 March, we reiterated our full cooperation to the French.  We provided them with a copy of the redacted report.  We transmitted to them the copies of her… the questions and answers, with the answers provided by the investigator.  We confirmed, yet again, that there was no need to lift immunity because this cooperation would be done on a voluntary basis without any prejudice to the investigation… to our immunities.  I think it serves to remind people… you know, the issue of immunity, I think, is one that is not always fully grasped by those that don't cover the UN on a regular basis.  The UN lifts the immunities of its staff members in a number of cases when they need to testify in front of judges, in front of courts.  We do that.  The immunity is not there to stand in the way of justice being served.  At this point, if there's no need to lift the immunity, it's not lifted.  If there is a need to lift the immunity to provide testimony before a judge or a court in a legal proceeding, it is studied.  It is very often done.

So, I think we're looking at different timelines.  I think different bureaucracies have different timelines.  I've given you ours.  The prosecutor clearly has his or her own; I don't know the gender of the prosecutor.  That's where we are.

Inner City Press:  Just one follow-up.  I appreciate that.  This will be the… there's one date you didn't mention there, which is 12 March 2015, in which the whistle-blower was summoned in and told to resign.  He said and was uncontested by High Commissioner of the Office of Human Rights at the request of the Under-Secretary-General of Peacekeeping.  So, my question is, what was the problem… I understand everything about protecting witnesses.  If the information presumably is provided to prosecutors, like there are rules against it, but it's not illegal for one investigative authority to share the information that could bring about a prosecution with that prosecuting authorities; what's the problem with that?

Spokesman:  I think, again, on Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous, I think he spoke to it… he spoke to it at the stakeout.  I've said what I've had to say about Mr. Kompass's allegations.  I think the High Commissioner spoke at length and eloquently this morning, so I have nothing to add.  I think it is vital for the work of the human rights organs of this Organization that, when people give us testimony with the understanding that it will be kept confidential, that it is in fact kept confidential.  I think the High Commissioner said clearly that the investigative responsibility, the criminal investigative responsibility, is in this case with the French soldiers with the French authorities.  It is with national authorities.

The human rights mechanisms in this organization conduct a lot of commissions of inquiry.  We have ones going on on Syria, on the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea], to name just two.  People give us testimonies with the understanding that we will be… we will guarantee that this… their names will be kept confidential.  I think that is exactly the issue here, is that when people give us testimony with the understanding that it be kept confidential, we have a responsibility to keep that confidential.  The handling of Mr. Kompass' case administratively, what was said, what was done is being reviewed internally.

  Here is the video of Inner City Press questions to US Ambassador Power:

From the US Mission transcript:

Inner City Press: One issue that has arisen that may not even need to wait for an investigation is that the Central African Republic says that they were never told of this, and given that these were their citizens, I wonder if you—does the U.S. think that when the UN system becomes aware of charges such as these, that the host country should be told? There’s also this issue, in the UN Dispute Tribunal ruling, that the Under Secretary General of Peacekeeping was reported, and the UN didn’t seem to dispute it, to have said that the whistleblower should resign or be suspended. And I wonder, this seems like a pretty serious charge. What do you think of that? Do you think that that is appropriate? What do you think of the treatment of the whistleblower who brought it to light?

Ambassador Power: "I think, on a lot of these issues, we’re all going to be better off if we allow an impartial investigation to take hold. And, I think, you raise a really, really important issue about host country involvement, and we’d want to, again, get the facts on that. Certainly, it is the case that the host country itself, of course, has the sovereign responsibility for the protection of its citizens, and so, looking at what role Central African Republic authorities played or didn’t play has to be part of this.

"And then, in terms of the individual who disclosed the allegations, who worked for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, again, it’s extremely important that any individual who comes into possession of allegations of this gravity acts swiftly. It is also extremely important that victim and witness safety be a very significant, a primary consideration as well. And so again, the impartial investigation will look at the handling and how both the issue of speed and the issue of victim and witness protection—how those issues were handled."

  It is an answer that may move things forward. Ladsous, it should be noted, just this week snubbed a Joe Biden-linked Hemispheric peacekeeping conference in Uruguay, wasting an $8,000 first class plane ticket and angering many troop contributing countries. He refuses to answer Press question, for example on rapes in Minova, DRC and Tabit in Darfur.

   As noted, on May 8, High Commissioner Zeid held a press conference, and twice refused to comment on why Ladsous was said to have pressured to fire or suspend the whistleblower.

  Inner City Press has covered Ladsous' role from the beginning, and highlighted his appearance in Paragraph 9 of the UN Dispute Tribunal ruling reinstating Kompass. On May 7, Ladsous told Inner City Press, "I deny that" - then refused to take questions.

 Zeid was asked, and first time said he should first give his view of the pressure to the investigator, not the media.

 The second time, he said he was surprised to read it -- his Office did not contest that part of the ruling, effectively admitting it -- and that the head of UN Peacekeeping should not have been intervening about a non-UN force.  Video here.

 Neither he nor the questioners in the room in Geneva said the obvious: Ladsous is a longtime French diplomat; it is not rocket science to read Paragraph 9 as him (inappropriately) still working for "his" country.

 Zeid said other things we'll report later; he alluded to the need for a Commission of Inquiry. Some ask, will Ladsous quit before then? Or after?

 For more than nine months, no action was taken -- no interviews of victims or alleged perpetrators were done -- other than the UN suspending Kompass for the leak, on which the UN Dispute Tribunal ruling recites that UN Peacekeeping chief Ladsous requested Kompass' resignation. (See Paragraph 9, here.) Ladsous told Inner City Press he denies it - then refused questions.

  Early on May 8, UN system staff complained to Inner City Press that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid of Jordan, in a closed staff meeting on May 8, tried to downplay the scandal, going so far as to blame imams in Bangui for not playing their role.

  But it was OHCHR which didn't even give the report of the rape of CAR children to CAR authorities, only to the French.

  In places, Zeid appeared to try to use his record ten years ago on sexual abuse to shift the blame to imams.  Inner City Press has shown a failure by his Office to act on past leaking, to Morocco. We'll have more on this.

  On May 7, Inner City Press asked more questions about this - including to Herve Ladsous himself.

  After a long closed-door consultation meeting of the Security Council, Ladsous emerged. Inner City Press asked him, based on Paragraph 9 of the UNDT ruling, Why did you ask Kompass to resign?"

  Ladsous stopped and said, "I deny that." Inner City Press put the handheld video online, here.

   

UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous Spins of Cutting Darfur Mission, Where He Is Accused of More Cover-Ups: Showdown

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- Two years after fair pay for developing world soldiers who serve the UN was discussed in Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations, a low ball offer was made on June 27.

  Several Group of 77 Permanent Representatives told Inner City Press on June 27 that "the money countries" or "the partners" had again balked at the recommendation of a long overdue raise to $1,700 a month and came back with a slightly increased counter-offer: $1,250.

 On June 30, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it:

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: Matthew?

Inner City Press: Sure, I want to ask about troop reimbursement and also this Sunday press encounter.  the Secretary-General had a Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations, which suggest… which proposed that peacekeepers get $1,700 a month.  There was a survey done.  And now, it seems like it’s come down to a deadline, in which rather than $1,700, the donor countries are offering $1,250.  And I wanted to know, since it was the Secretary-General’s own Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping, did he think that Group is credible?  Did he think the $1,700 number is a reasonable one?  And does he think that $1,250 is sufficient for peacekeepers?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I think, you know, those numbers… the work of the Senior Advisory Group came up with what it came up with.  These discussions now are deep in the heart of the Fifth Committee, being discussed amongst Member States, and I think that’s where I will leave it for the time being.

  Ah, leadership. On the evening on June 30 UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous, who refuses to answer Press questions, dissembled behind closed doors to the Fifth Committee, as several representatives told Inner City Press.

  Ladsous pontificated about his visit to Haiti - and said he would further cut back the mission in Darfur, where his UN Peacekeeping is already accused of covering up killings.  "He's gotta go," one representative said, and others agreed. But this is the UN.

  An African Deputy Permanent Representative asked Inner City Press, "How can Obama come up with $500 million for Syria rebels, but can't pay UN peacekeepers properly? Does he want peace, or more war?"

 Earlier, the inclusion of Sri Lankan general Shavendra Silva, whose Division 58 is depicted engaged in war crimes in Ban's own report, made the SAG otherwise newsworthy.

  While the UN and its UN Censorship Alliance (UNCA)hindered Inner City Press' ability to cover the SAG meetings, on May 22, 2012 after a two hour stakeout in front of the Teachers Building on Third Avenue Inner City Press was able to report that

"one Asian Group representative urged Inner City Press to 'stop' Silva and not let him come in. On the other hand... Ban has refused to speak out about having an alleged war criminal as an adviser. More recently, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman what if anything was ever done on the petition to Ban about disappeared Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth. The question has yet to be answered, as has another Inner City Press question about the UN system's own finding that the Sri Lankan Army used cluster bombs in the 2009 conflict which killed 40,000 civilians."

  The next day, after conducting more interviews, Inner City Press reported that "one South Asian representative in attendance told Inner City Press that 'France is the worst, in trying to cut the pay. 

  We told them, fine, then don't keep creating new missions. Two of my country's peacekeepers died in Ivory Coast, carrying out French foreign policy.'"

  Yet another attendee concurred, saying the most insulting speaker in the Silva-less (for now) SAG now is "that new French guy with the long hair." But who was that?

  Inner City Press found out: Nicolas de Riviere, who like current Ban DPKO Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous was a former Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the UN, serving under Permanent Representative Gerard Araud(who now is belatedly out at the UN, to be replaced by Francois Delattre on July 15.)

  "Flippy Nic" or "Helmet" as some called him because of the hair, turned out to be cheap with peacekeepers, and insulting to boot. 

 Now in 2014, he has come to represent France at the P5+1 negotiations with Iran, next week in Vienna.

  And so the question arose, who did Nicolas de Riviere replace, in order to be "new"? While the SAG was shrouded in mystery, without having its own spokesperson (while Ban's spokespeople and DPKO's Herve Ladsous' then spokesperson Kieran Dwyer are unwilling to answer questions about it), one of the few members initially listed was Jean Marie Guehenno, who in an unbroken line of Frenchman had headed DPKO before Alain Le Roy, who was replaced not by Jerome Bonnafont but instead, as second choice, Ladsous.

  So at the UN noon briefing of May 30, 2012 Inner City Press asked Ban's Deputy spokesman:

Inner City Press: Mr. Guehenno, I know that before he took this post as one of the two deputies of Kofi Annan on Syria, he was on the senior advisory group on peacekeeping operations, and it’s part of the press release, it’s a little unclear the full membership, but I wanted to know, is he still on the senior advisory group on peacekeeping operations with this controversy about the Sri Lankan general? Was Mr. Guéhenno representing France or the Secretary-General and the United Nations?

Deputy Spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey: Well, we will have to find out about that, Matthew, I don’t have that information with me. Okay, thank you very much.

  On the evening on May 30, 2012, having heard nothing back, by phone, e-mail or in person, Inner City Press included in a story about Azerbaijan's end of Security Council presidency reception:

"Recently Inner City Press quoted a "South Asian representative" about how cheap France is being in the Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations. There was much guessing who had dare say que l'empereur does not have clothes. Inner City Press has asked Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesman a question about this and will be writing soon."

  The Press story of France's statements in the SAG was discussed by some Ambassadors on the Security Council's West Africa trip, several with mirth but by its opposition by the French, whose Gerard Araud led the leg to former colony Cote d'Ivoire, without any presence by Araud's former deputy Flippy Nic.

   Still having heard nothing back, Inner City Press on June 5 asked Ban's main spokesman:

Inner City Press: I am not sure if I’d asked you or Eduardo, but I definitely want an answer to this, and I think you may have the answer. On that Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations on which the Sri Lanka General, Shavendra Silva, serves, Mr. [Jean-Marie] Guéhenno was on it, I know he is no longer on it, that he has become the Deputy to Kofi Annan, but it was unclear to me, I thought he was the Secretary-General’s appointment to the board, and then I was told that he was France’s appointment. And so I asked about a week ago just very simply, who appointed him to the board, and I am still waiting, I would like to know, do you know?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Uh, well, you don’t need to wait much longer, and you didn’t need to wait so long either.

Inner City Press: Okay, great.

Spokesperson: Because it was added to the transcript that very same day that Mr. Jean-Marie Guéhenno was representing France.

Inner City Press: Why didn’t you send me an e-mail?

Spokesperson: You have it.

   And lo and behold, rather than contact Inner City Press with an answer, jammed into an online transcript was this: "[The Deputy Spokesperson later added that Mr. Guéhenno represented France.]"

So Guehenno was replaced by de Riviere, who has insulted developing world peacekeepers in a meeting that Ban's UN and Ladsous' DPKO try to hinder coverage of, to cover up the inclusion in the SAG of an alleged war criminal.

  And at the UN in 2014, transcripts gets even more doctored that before, click here.

In fact, Inner City Press put this question directly to Ladsous, on camera, but he refused to answer that or another question on cholera in Haiti, telling Inner City Press, "Well, Mister, I will start answering your questions when you stop insulting me and making malicious and insulting insinuations." The video, at Minute 28:10, is online on UN website, here.

Also on stage with Ladsous was Department of Field Support Assistant Secretary General and Officer in Charge Tony Banbury, who approached as Inner City Press was leaving the UN on June 5. "I hope I'll have another chance to ask you that question," Inner City Press told Banbury. Watch this site.

Footnote: In May 2012 Inner City Press reports on Sri Lanka, Silva and Ban Ki-moon's SAG had been getting Inner City Press into a lot of trouble, at the UN and in Sri Lankan government aligned media. And the UNCA board tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. But this reporting will continue.