SDNY Judge Preska Granted Request To Plead Guilty And Be Returned to El Salvador To See Ailing Father

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive; Video,pics

SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 9 – A man from El Salvador came shackled into court on July 9 to plead guilty, waives his right to a pre-sentencing report and be sentenced with the hope of being deported as quickly as possible. The goal of Jose Adan Martinez was to get back to El Salvador and see his 99 year old father whose health is failing.
  
  U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Loretta A. Preska obliged Mr. Martinez in this. Responding to a letter from Martinez' Federal Defender Sarah Baumgartel, Judge Preska scheduled a plea and then sentencing hearing back to back on July 9, and signed an order for the Marshals. Inner City Press, the only media in the courtroom, asked how quickly Mr. Martinez might make it back to El Salvador. The answer was it depends, on how frequently the U.S. transportation is arranged.

  At the end of these proceedings in US v. Martinez, 06-cr-807, Judge Preska said, "Mr. Lee, the sentencing for Connors Person will be July 17 at noon." Inner City Press thanked Judge Preska, while still seeking about a proceeding that got abruptly sealed at 10 am at least some information, that seemingly required by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

  Earlier on July 9 in a court proceeding that began as open, with U.S. Marshals, the defendants' family members and even legal interns present on July 9, Inner City Press was specifically directed to leave, leaving no media or member of the general public present.

  It took place before Judge Preska. Listed on PACER and in the SDNY lobby for 10 am before her was the case of USA v. Connors Person, et al, 17-cr-683, complete with letters of support from the head bank regulators of the state of Alabama.

  But when Inner City Press arrived at 10:10 am, there was a shackled defendant with cornrows at the defense table. His lawyer stood and summoned Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Balsamello out into the hall by the elevators.  When they returned, at the same time as two of the defendant's family members, Judge Preska asked about those present in the room, and summoned the lawyers up for a sidebar - with a court reporter, which may later be significant.

  After the sidebar discussion, Judge Preska called the case as US v. Santino-Barrero (phonetically - it was not written down anywhere.) Then Judge Preska asked the defendants' family members to stand, then the legal interns, then other interns introduced by one of the Marshals.

  "Is that you in the back, Mister Lee?" Judge Preska asked.  Inner City Press previously reported daily on the UN bribery trial and sentencing of Patrick Ho before Judge Preska, once answering in open court her question about press access to exhibits in that case. So the answer was Yes.

  I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Judge Preska said. Inner City Press considered asking why, right there, but decided against it. It has recently been advised to not ask so many question, even as its question about a suddenly sealed June 17 sentencing by SDNY Judge Lorna Schofield remains unanswered, see below.

 Judge Preska's courtroom deputy followed Inner City Press out to the hall, then appeared to lock the courtroom door. No explanation was offered.

  The PACER terminal in the SDNY Press Room from which Inner City Press has been working for months does not list a Santino Barrero as a defendant. The Bureau of Prison's website is only searchable with a first name, which was not given. 

 For now Inner City Press notes that sentencing proceedings are presumptively open in the Second Circuit.  See United States v. Alcantara, 396 F.3d 189, 196 (2d Cir. 2005) ("There is little doubt that the First Amendment right of access extends to sentencing proceedings.").  

Before closing a proceeding to which the First Amendment right of access attaches, the judge should make specific, on the record findings demonstrate that closure is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest.  See United States v. Haller, 837 F.2d 84, 87 (2d Cir. 1988).

  If the "finding" was at the sidebar, will that be made public? When? Watch this site.

Back on June 17 the sentencing of a defendant seeking time served, seemingly for cooperation with the government, was abruptly declared "sealed" by SDNY Judge Lorna G. Schofield on June 17. 

She said she was going to seal the transcript, but that once this reporter walked into her open courtroom 1106 in 40 Foley Square, she moved the entire proceeding into her robing room, closed to the Press and public. 

 Now on June 18 Inner City Press hasrequested the name and number of the case, and that all portions that do not need to be redacted or sealed be provided or placed in the docket, citing in support this its requests: again,sentencing proceedings are presumptively open in the Second Circuit.  See United States v. Alcantara, 396 F.3d 189, 196 (2d Cir. 2005) ("There is little doubt that the First Amendment right of access extends to sentencing proceedings.").  

Before closing a proceeding to which the First Amendment right of access attaches, the judge should make specific, on the record findings demonstrate that closure is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest.  See United States v. Haller, 837 F.2d 84, 87 (2d Cir. 1988). United States v. Cojab specifically dealt with hearings (in that case, a pretrial hearing) conducted in the robing room.  

 Inner City Press is pursuing this because it is a precedent and trend. On June 18 affable SDNY Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn declared a proceeding in Courtroom 5A sealed with "delayed docketing;" in her two days in the Magistrates Court this week not a single filing has been made available on PACER. There's more - watch this site.

On June 17 when Judge Schofield, her Courtroom Deputy James Street and the shackled defendant, Assistant US Attorneys and US Marshals emerged twenty minutes later, Judge Schofield said only, "We're adjourned." There was no disclosure of the outcome of the proceeding - as Inner City Press walked in, the defendant's lawyer was asking for time served." 

Then Judge Schofield said she wanted to "shake hands with our visitors" and proceeded to do just that with the two other people in the gallery. Inner City Press left.

  No one where on the electronic board in the SDNY lobby at 500 Pearl Street was any proceeding before Judge Schofield at that time list. Nor in the day's PACER calendar.

  So it is both a confidential sentencing, and a confidential case? 

Judge Schofield's Rules for Criminal Cases, ironically, provide that there is a presumption that all sentencing submissions are public, and that if anything is redacted only those pages with redactions can be withheld from the public docket. 

  But no such distinction is possible when an entire proceeding is moved into the judge's robing room barred to the press and public, with no notice or opportunity to be heard. Inner City Press will have more on this - see also @InnerCityPress and the new @SDNYLIVE.

UN Accessed By Diplomat Who Helped Briber Ng Lap Seng Pay Lorenzo and UN Covers It Up Like Ho, CEFC

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video here & here

UNITED NATIONS, August 28– After the UN was exposed as having been bought and corrupted by Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, convicted less than a month ago on six counts of UN bribery, money laundering and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, what has changed? Very little: on June 8, Inner City Press saw at the UN General Assembly stakeout the former El Salvador Ambassador Carlos Garcia, who was shown in the Ng Lap Seng trial to have used his diplomatic position to lobby Dominican Republic bank regulators to stop investigating and let through $50,000 from Ng to Francis Lorenza, who pleaded guilty. So an hour later on June 8 Inner City Press asked Stephane Dujarric the spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who has yet to commission an audit into the second, large UN bribery case of Patrick Ho and CEFC, about Garcia, video here,UN transcript here: Inner City Press: at the GA [General Assembly] stakeout, after the… the vote, this is something… I had asked you before once about the… the previous Permanent Representative of El Salvador, Carlos García, took part in some GMO [genetically modified organisms] meeting in ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council].  You may or may not remember that one.  The reason I'm asking you… I saw him… he was there speaking with the current… I believe the current [Permanent Representative] of El Salvador.  My question is, in the Ng Lap Seng trial that took place last summer, they showed on the screen a… a correspondence by him to the Dominican banking authorities, basically saying let this $50,000 go from Ng Lap Seng to Francis Lorenzo.  So, it seemed pretty clear.  Maybe the Government chose not to go after him… to pursue the case because he was an ambassador, but it seemed very clear that he was involved in the… the initiative of South-South with Ng Lap Seng to give money to Francis Lorenzo to obtain these various favours.  So, I guess my question is, is it automatic that a former Permanent Representative keeps a pass to come in, or is he in the building in some other capacity?

Spokesman:  I don't know under what capacity he was in the building.

Inner City Press:  How would one find that out?

Spokesman:  If I can find out, I will." Then no answer; Dujarric's office called end of day and week lid. Back on 25 August 2017 Secretary General Antonio Guterres was listed as a speaker at an absurd event in the ECOSOC Chamber, promoted by the UN Correspondents Association, by a group that had plead-guilty Francis Lorenzo and demonstrated money laundering helper Carlos Garcia at its founding. Here is a video shown at the event making outlandish claims about the only recently founded WOGC group.

After Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric again refused to answer questions, Inner City Press which can no longer stakeout ECOSOC without a UN "minder" instead went to Periscope and take photos. It witnessed, and raised, that Carlos Garcia himself was in ECOSOC, here - but he left once he was photographed. The highest levels of the UN know about this. Inner City Press has asked Guterres' spokesman Dujarric, including again on August 28: "Beyond the still unanswered vetting questions below, about the canceled WDF/Suriname event and the one allowed to go forward on Friday - who PAID the UN for UNTV, security etc on Friday? How was WOGC vetted, including specifically its relation with Carlos Garcia? What is the status of former El Salvador PR Garcia, given what was shown about his action for Francis Lorenzo and Ng Lap Seng in Ng's trial, in the UN?" Dujarric purported to respond to two other questions, but removed this one from his response. It's called a cover-up. At the UN General Assembly on August 28, a rogue UN Security supervisor ordered Inner City Press to stop filming from the stakeout, without giving his name. At the August 25 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Guterres' holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you again about this event that's now, is going forward.  It's in the Journal.  It will be televised.  And I'd asked you yesterday whether this World Organisation of Governance and Competitiveness… how it was vetted, and I didn't get an answer from you, so I want to ask you…Spokesman:  I don't have any more to, I don't have any information to share on that.  I'll check... Inner City Press:  It's beginning at 1:00. Spokesman:  The SG is not participating. Inner City Press:  Right.  But my question is this.  I went and looked up… Spokesman:  It's sponsored, I think, by a Permanent Mission. Inner City Press:  It's listed, the Journal itself says World Organisation of Governance and Competitiveness.  So, I searched the ECOSOC database and… I just want to ask you because… when you answer on this.  It was only formed in 2016, and yet it says it's an ECOSOC member organisation.  That's how it's sponsoring, and, I believe, paying for part of this event.  And when you go to the ECOSOC documents, it basically took over the name of another group called World of Hope International. And so many people that work in this field… there's a lot of controversy about the NGO committee in ECOSOC, but how can a group sneak under the radar by buying a name?  And I would like just to know from you, who's paying for the event?  And what connection does Carlos Garcia-- Spokesman:  You should ask, that's a question, I mean, I will look… Inner City Press:   No, no, it's the UN.  Who's paying the UN… Spokesman:  You should ask… Inner City Press:  Who's transferring money to the UN?
Spokesman:  …"ask the organisers as well." That's called passing the buck. The group emphasizes it is accredited to ECOSOC. But the May 2017 document, under its name, is all about "World of Hope International," here. We'll have more on this. UN Spokesman Dujarric, who previously evicted Inner City Press as it covered the Ng Lap Seng scandal and still restricts it, has not answered.

While the spokesmen for Guterres evade the questionsasked by Inner City Press, for example about the UN rewarding Ng for his South South News' coverage of Ban Ki-moon's Central America trip in 2015, murky uses of the UN and its building, movement inside which Inner City Press is still restricted for its anti-corruption coverage, continue. 

 For example, on August 23-24 the UN General Assembly Hall was scheduled be taken over by an NGO named “World Development Foundation” headed by Guo Xiangang. After Inner City Press asked and wrote about it, it was canceled, with the UN ascribing the cancellation entirely to... Suriname, see below. Now on the same day, the UN Correspondents Association sends out an invitation to an August 25 event by the "World Organization of Government and Competitiveness" (WOGC), whose founding event, photo here, featured Francis Lorenzo (pleaded guilty to UN bribery) and is linked with Carlos Garcia (who helped Ng launder money in the Dominican Republic - email here, article here).Here is the video of WOGC's founding, featuring Garcia and other UN people - more on this to follow. UN Spokesman Dujarric has previously refused to state Garcia's status in the UN, despite clear exhibits in the Ng trial which ICP covered. So on August 24, more than 24 hours before the event, Inner City Press publicly asked Dujarric at the UN noon briefing, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: number of times I’d asked you about Carlos Garcia, used to be the former Permanent Representative of El Salvador.  And, in the Ng Lap Seng case, he was shown to have assisted in the laundering of money between Ng Lap Seng and Francis Lorenzo. So, I wanted to ask you, there’s a, there’s an event tomorrow in ECOSOC, which is a, sponsored by a group which is… is linked online and in its founding with Carlos Garcia.  And it’s listed in a press release that was put out yesterday with the Secretary-General planning to attend… attend… Spokesman:  What’s the event? Inner City Press:  It’s called “Road to the Future of Sustainable Development:  Moving from Commitments to Results through Inclusive Innovation.”  And it has a press release by the group WOCG, talking about life pods.  And it says there will be a statement by António Guterres. So, my question is, has this group, including its links to… in its very founding, to Carlos Garcia and Francis Lorenzo, been vetted by the UN? Spokesman:  Let me check.  I was not aware, I’m not aware of the Secretary-General participating.  I will look into it. Inner City Press: Whether or not he participates, I guess, my question is, given that these… these exhibits… Spokesman:  I’m not a, yeah, I know.  I’m not aware of the event.  So, I will look into…Inner City Press: Last time you didn’t answer it… Spokesman:  I did answer you. Inner City Press: Well, yeah, that evening when the NGO asked you to…Spokesman:  "I answered you. "This time, past 7 pm, nothing. A whistleblower forwarded this to Inner City Press: "UNCA is extending an invitation from the Permanent Mission of Zambia to the UN and the World Organization of Governance and Competitiveness to a High-level Global Meeting discussing 'Road to the Future of Sustainable Development: Moving from Commitments to Results through Inclusive Innovation,' taking place on Friday, August 25th from 1:30 - 6:00 pm in ECOSOC chamber. Sherwin Bryce-Pease, President, United Nations Correspondents Association." The promotion: "H.E Mr. Lazarous Kapambwe, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations, Mr. Cary Yan, President of WOGC, Special Guests include: H.E. Mme Marie Chatardová, President of the Economic and Social Council (tbc), H.E. Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General (tbc), H.E. Mme Lorena Herrera, Vice President of Honduras, H.E. Mr. Alvaro Colom, Former President of Guatemala, H.E. Mr. Kessai H. Note, Former President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, H.E. Mr. Francisco Merino, Former Vice President of El Salvador, Hon. Mr. Freidi Torres, Former President of Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Panama." The press release says Antonio Guterres will speak. We'll have more on this. As to the WDF event, Inner City Press was urged to remove its reporting from the Internet - just as then UNCA president Giampaolo Pioli told it to remove an article about his renting of an apartment to Sri Lanka's ambassador from the Internet or get thrown out of the UN, which UNCA "leaders" and the UN in turn did - and to interview Suriname's Ambassador (we DO have questions). But the UN is covering up. The NGOs Dujarric refused to answer about have already been partnered with by the UN Department of Public Information, photos here and here; the now-cancelled event was still promoted in a DPI NGO newsletter sent out on the afternoon of August 23, with a greeting from DPI's Maher Nasser. Again, UNreformed DPI which views its role as pro-UN coverage cannot be allowed to evicted and still restrict the independent Press. We'll continue on this. On the now-canceled event, attendance list and junket offer below; voice mail after UN refused to answer, here, UN Spokesman's one-quarter answer, below; second voicemail here. In a third voicemail, an interview of with the Ambassador of Suriname, just as he was interviewed by South South News in Macau, was offered here. But Inner City Press' questions were and are to the UN, how it vetted the NGOs - UNanswered. Now a fourth voicemail, here, asking that Inner City Press take down article(s) - and, on August 23, the event was not taking place in either the General Assembly Hall, nor Conference Room 4. We'll have more on this. Inner City Press first reported on this group in May 2016, noting that the UN Department of Public Information was partnering with a group that at that time did not even have a website. This came after DPI's then-chief Cristina Gallach did no due diligence of Ng Lap Seng's purchase of events in the UN lobby and even its slavery memorial, then evictedInner City Press after it asked her about her links to Ng's South South Awards. The UN's holdover Spokesman Stephane Dujarric has been involved, including in both the eviction and continuing restrictions. On August 22, Inner City Press asked and e-mailed Dujarric about the August 22-24 event. Video here; UN transcript here: Inner City Press: there's an event this week in the General Assembly, and some of the sponsors are those who attended the Macau event sponsored and paid for by Ng Lap Seng in August 2015 just before he was indicted and arrested.  So, I wanted to know — maybe you can find this out today — it's said that it's going to be webcast.

Spokesman:  What's the event?  I don't, what's the event?

Inner City Press:  The event has to do with sustainable tourism.  It's sponsored by an NGO and two Member States, both of whom went to Macau.  So, my question to you is, you've said the things have radically cleaned up…What's the UN's role in the event…  Who's paying for the-

Spokesman:  I need… drop me off a piece of paper with information about the event and I will…

Inner City Press: I'm going to give you the email as well, the one about…

Spokesman:  Perfect.

Inner City Press: …Yiping Zhou and the one that you said you hadn't seen.

Spokesman:  Okay, thank you.

  Inner City Press immediately sent Dujarric as well as his top two deputies the Yiping Zhou email and some questions. Five hours later when he left, Dujarric had not answered nor even, as requested, confirmed receipt. After 8 pm one of the sponsors called Inner City Press, audio here. But the answer should come from the UN Secretariat, which had been asked eight hours previously. Inner City Press called the caller how to ask Dujarric, and Dujarric did respond to this NGO, emailing Inner City Press: "Dear Matthew, The event is sponsored that the Mission of Suriname. They are responsible for the content of the event and we have been assured that no one is being charged for this event. Sincerely, Steph." But this didn't answer the questions that Inner City Press had asked (while showing that Dujarric had received them - we'll have more on this, and this.)

New DPI chief Alison Smale will have to deal with all this - and clean it up. For now, this is how the UN under Guterres remains. Watch this site. Legal footnote: the prosecution of Ng Lap Seng was by Assistant US attorneys Douglas Zolkind, Janis Echenberg and Daniel Richenthal of the US Attorney’s Office, David Last, on detail with the criminal division fraud section's FCPA unit, and Aashna Rao and David Louison. There are (many) further exhibits they are supposed to disclose to the Press, through spokespeople Nicholas Biase and Dawn Dearden and DC. We'll have more on all this.

At UN Decolonization Committee, Replies on Kashmir Not Western Sahara, UK Hit on Malvinas & Gibraltar

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 14 -- In UN's Decolonization Committee replies on Monday morning, the UK cited a string of Latin American countries and said it had "nothing to add" about the Malvinas or Falkland Islands.

 

  Argentina shot back that the UK was distorting the concept of self-determination. (Last week, as reported by Inner City Press, Bolivia's Permanent Representative Sacha Llorenti said the UK was engaged in "colonial marketing.")

  Spain said, to the UK, that it was Gibraltar authorities causing tension, "launching" cement blocks with long spikes to hinder Spanish fishermen.

 (The UK was one of four abstainers, versus 149 for, on a resolution of which is said it should be up to the "administering power" and those of a territory to decided when to stop reporting to the UN.)

  India rejected Pakistan having raised Jammu and Kashmir in the Committee.

  On the item that drew the most petitioners, Western Sahara, there were no replies on Monday. Rather, Algeria began the morning by insisting that a referendum with independence as an option must be held.

South Africa called Western Sahara the last colony in Africa, and cited decisions to this effect by the African Union as recently as January 2013.

Amid reports of Francophone AU countries last week blocking others AU members drive to withdraw en masse from the International Criminal Court, one wonders how these same Francophones, like Democratic Republic of Congo which spoke pro-Morocco, have not yet chewed into AU positions on Western Sahara.

Morocco's Permanent Representative Loulichki gave his speech, not seeming to directly address the issue of a referendum with independence of an option but saying the the phosphates of Western Sahara represent only 1.6% of the phosphates of Morocco.

The Salvadoran chair of the Committee asked Loulichki to wrap up with on sentence, but he went longer. Then, no rights of reply on the issue.

From Rabat, Inner City Press was contacted that UN envoy Christopher Ross is in Morocco, but no one knows why. So we're put the question in. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Holmes Denies UK Slows Somali Aid, Five Small CERF Deadbeats, HSBC for Gaza

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/cerf1somalia120909.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 9 -- The UN's humanitarian coordinator John Holmes, in his previous life a UK diplomat, on Wednesday told the Press that he is "not aware that the UK government has followed [the] example" of the United States in slowing aid to Somalia following concerns of diversion. Video here, from Minute 4:48.

But on December 8, the Office in Charge for Somalia of the Food and Agriculture Organization, Graham Farmer, told the Press that not only the U.S., but also the UK have slowed their aid based on these concerns.

The UK's Minister of State for International Development Gareth Thomas, speaking to the Press earlier on December 9, was asked for the UK's position on the claim by the African Group that they had been promised the number two post in the UN Development Program. He declined to comment on the fact that the UNDP top was given this week to Rebecca Grynspan, a decidedly non African Costa Rican.

In response to another question, about his praise of Fair Trade certification for the Nestle Kit Kat chocolate bar despite non governmental organizations' call for a boycott of Nestle for child labor, water overuse and breast milk issues, he said the government is trying to get UK supermarkets to source six percent of their goods from Africa. Video here, from Minute 13:12.

He also would not comment on the UK's attempts in the UN's Fifth Committee to change the "scale of assessment" to pay relatively less into the UN's budget.

On Holmes' office's chart of donors to the UN Central Emergency Relief Fund, the UK is on top, albeit paying 15% less in 2009 that in 2007 and 2008. At the bottom of the list are several relatively small countries such has Tuvalu, Benin and St. Lucia which have given one or two thousand dollars. Holmes said these are signs of political support.

The Maldives, much in the news these days for having its ministers meet underwater to publicize climate change, pledged a thousand dollars in both 2007 and 2008, but has not paid on either pledge. El Salvador pledge two thousand dollars in 2007 but still has not paid. The other "deadbeats," as reporters called them, are Djibouti, Haiti and Mongolia. The last of these has sent doctors to Darfur.

On the corporate side, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited contributed $10,000. Inner City Press asked Holmes about it, and he said "I think there's a link there probably to Gaza." Video here, from Minute 6:14.

HSBC is known to have branches in the unregulated Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Meanwhile, UNICEF uses a bank on the terror sanctions list, just as UNRWA was exposed as doing earlier this year. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/cerf1somalia120909.html

UN Development Program "Launders Money" in Latin America, Chart and Sources Say

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
and see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1latam040208.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 2 -- The UN Development Program expends significantly more in relatively affluent Latin America than in Africa, a continent-wide analysis obtained by Inner City Press reveals. In 2006, over 90% of UNDP's $1.3 billion in expenditures in Latin America were so-called "cost sharing," in which governments give UNDP money in order to do procurement or pay salaries to people already in the government's employ.

While being little more than a bookkeeper -- or money launderer, as several inside UNDP sources put it -- UNDP collects a fee for all funds it processes, and books it as income. The model has become attractive to UNDP's offices throughout Latin America, leading to UNDP tarnishing the UN's name by becoming involved in procurement scandals such as a current one in Venezuela. A week ago, Inner City Press asked UNDP a series of question which have still not been answered. On Wednesday, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General's comment on how UNDP under Kemal Dervis and Ad Melkert is making the UN appear.

Just last month, the head of the UN-affiliated World Bank, when asked about UNDP's attempt to attribute its greater expenditure in Latin America than in Africa to its supposed "processing" of World Bank loans, expressed skepticism. The answer for UNDP's disparity, the attached chart now shows, is UNDP's "cost sharing" programs.

UNDP's questionable work in Latin America is not limited to countries like Venezuela, where in 2006 UNDP reported $34 million in "cost sharing." In Argentina in 2006, while spending less than $1 million in "regular resources" to promote development, UNDP processed over $268 million for the government. UNDP's Argentina web site, under the heading Acquisitions, vaguely lists much of its work as "NEX" -- the so-called national execution modality that got the agency into trouble in North Korea. There are also acquisitions of servers from CISCO, a supplier that UNDP sources say is not chosen competitively, but rather is actively promoted and favored by UNDP's country offices on instructions from UNDP Headquarters.

In Brazil in 2006, while again spending less than $1 million in "regular resources" to promote development, UNDP processed over $227 million for the government. UNDP's Brazil web site was soliciting bids, for example, up to March 28 for 100 hotel rooms for a conference to take place April 7-8, 2008 (#758).

Inner City Press is informed by Brazilian sources that the size of UNDP's cost-sharing was revealed in that country when people UNDP paid, with government pass-through money, to work for the government argued that they should not have to pay taxes, claiming they were international civil servants. A dispute ensued, and the full size of UNDP's Brazilian program, which dwarfs African programs, became known. "UNDP is renting out the UN's powers for a fee, it is engaged in essence in money laundering," a UNDP source told Inner City Press on condition of anonymity, given UNDP's known penchant for retaliation, noted not only by the Washington-based Government Accountability Project but also, at least on a prima facie basis, by the UN Ethics Office. The analogy is that governments pay the fee to UNDP in order to work around procurement and other rules -- UNDP does not have to be transparent, and does not have to follow local rules.

While UNDP in Cuba in 2006 reported $7 million in cost-sharing, the UNDP figure in Guatemala was $92 million. In Bolivia it was $31 million, in Chile $23 million, Colombia $82 million, Dominican Republic $5 million, Ecuador $30 million, El Salvador $13 million, Paraguay $32 million, Uruguay $10 million.

From poor Haiti, UNDP took in $16 million in cost-sharing, versus only $14 million in Mexico.

UNDP's response to the controversy around a contract of less than $3 million in Venezuela with Setronix has been to direct Inner City Press to UNDP's online rebuttal. But while UNDP claims that the documents it links to show competitive bidding, the documents in fact refer to " excepcion a un proceso competitivo" - exception to a competitive process. In any case, this is just the tip of the iceberg of UNDP's $1.1 billion of "cost-sharing" in Latin America (compared to UNDP's less than $600 million in annual spending in Africa.)

In Honduras, UNDP's cost-sharing in 2006 was a whopping $103 million. The web site refers, in Spanish, to the modalidad de Ejecucion Nacional (NEX -- national execution "modality," saying that it guarantees that national authorities keep control of the program and of the final responsibility for how the funds are used. UNDP, it seems, just takes a fee, and repeatedly further tarnishes the UN's name in the process.

and see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1latam040208.html