In UN Bribery Case, Ng Lap Seng Wants to Use Video of Lorenzo, Some Are in UNTV Archives

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 11 – In the UN bribery case against Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, for which jury selection ran from June 26 through June 28 (Periscope here), on July 6 former Dominican Republic Deputy Ambassador and South South News chief Francis Lorenzo started to describe the corruption at the United Nations. Now on July 11 the prosecution has opposed Ng's lawyers using videos including that "contain statements that Lorenzo made about the defendant, including statements about the defendant’s character." 

At the UN, Inner City Press on July 11 asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the South South News videos that made their way into UN Television's own archives. Dujarric, who was responsible for UNTV during the time frame, declined to explain, and also again refused to explain why the UN refused to share with the Department of Justice the list of people interviewed for the partial-admissible UN Task Force Report. We'll have more on this. In court on July 10, U.S. Judge Vernon Broderick allowed prosecutors to ask Lorenzo about his romantic relationship with Julia Vivi Wang, who Lorenzo said held the purse strings for defendant Ng Lap Seng's media organization, South-South News. The Law360 report quotes Lorenzo that he was single at the time he had a casual relationship with the married Wang in 2011 and 2012, adding that "Ng allegedly paid Lorenzo to draft and get the UN General Assembly in 2012 to adopt a document related to the center, later revising it to list Ng's company in 2013." One key UN fact: the GA document was "revised" by an official in the UN Secretariat, as a fraudulent "technical" revision, and no one has yet been identified or held accountable. Lorenzo was making $72,000 a year from his country, when Ng Lap Seng started paying him $20,000 a month and put him in charge of South South News despite, Lorenzo testified, having never done journalism in his life. (The UN Department of Public Information, with now-spokesman Stephane Duajrric in charge of television, put Ng's and Lorenzo's South South News' content in the UNTV archives; Dujarric repeatedly refused to explain to Inner City Press how this happened.) Lorenzo described how UN General Assembly President John Ashe, since mysteriously killed by his own barbell, became part of the push for Ng's company Sun Kian Ip Group to procure UN Secretariat documents to build a multi-billion dollar convention center in Macau. Ng's lawyers, who are preparing to cross-examine Lorenzo, have said they may use in his defense some UN documents which they have not yet specified. The prosecution has argued "defense counsel stated, 'We also have another document that is from the UN that we are going to introduce which is the secretary delegation members list.” (Tr. 138.) In addition, when sharing proposed opening slides, the Government learned that the defendant had printed out or downloaded two excerpts from UNOSSC websites that have never been produced or identified to the Government, but that the defendant asserted he intends to introduce at trial. The Government does not have a copy of the pertinent webpages, nor does it know whether the website from which they came is currently available or whether, in any event, the excerpts fairly and accurately capture the website." Inner City Press which has covered this inside the UN (and been thrown out by the UN for seeking to cover, in the UN Press Briefing Room, an event by a group funded by Ng's South South News, which will now host Secretary General Antonio Guterres' deputy Amina J. Mohammed) notes that the Office of South South Cooperation has refused to hold a press conference. On July 6, Inner City Press asked UN holdover Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: I want to ask you about the Ng Lap Seng case.  It's obviously continuing, but there are now… it has emerged in… in court filings that the defendant, Ng Lap Seng, charged with bribery in the UN, intends to introduce certain UN documents, including past versions of the Office of South-South Cooperation's website in his defense.  And so the prosecution, the Department of Justice has asked him to disclose that.  He says he's not going to disclose it yet.  What I wanted to ask you as it turns out, we never did get a press conference by the Office of South-South Cooperation.  Can you now get a statement from them on changes they've made to the website since the case broke and why they made them?  Because it becomes… it's not a question of… it's a UN question about an unresolved, never…?

Spokesman:  I mean… listen, I think… I think the Office has responded to your questions and you're welcome to ask them again.

Inner City Press: Are you sure?

Spokesman:  Yes.

  But it's not true: OSSC never held the long promises press conference.  Earlier, two filings revealed that the UN refused to provide information to the US Government for its prosecution, contrary to the UN's repeated statements to Inner City Press that the UN was cooperating. Now in opening statements, Ng's lawyer Tai Park said of Ng's $20,000 a month payments to Francis Lorenzo to run "South South News" (while serving as the Dominican Republic's Deputy Permanent Representative), "It's called wages, ladies and gentlemen, not bribes." Wages for what? As Inner City Press has reported, the UN Department of Public Information kept South South News with full not restricted access long after the indictment, and South South News-ers have returned to the UN. (This week there was a murky event in the UN which strongly echoed Ng Lap Seng's capture of DPI including a one-man painting exhibition in the UN lobby for which DPI did no due diligence, only evicted and restricts the Press which reported on it). Of Lorenzo, Prosecutor Douglas Zolkind said Ng began sending Lorenzo an extra $30,000 a month in late 2012 "for the express purpose of obtaining UN approval for the conference center." This involved getting the UN Secretariat to doctor a General Assembly resolution AFTER it was rubber stamped, and more. Watch this site. The prosecution's June 5 letter criticized the UN Task Force Report as self-serving. On June 28 Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric to defend the UN Report. From the UN transcript: Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you again about this Ng Lap Seng case as it moves up.  I've looked more closely in the court file, and this is something I'd ask you to respond to because it's not regarding guilt or innocence.  They're looking at that the US Government says of the UN task force report on weaknesses in funding of the PGA [President of the General Assembly] office that the report was prepared only by an ad hoc committee without any identifiable special skills or expertise, and it was motivated by a concern for the reputation of the entity that ordered it rather than to determine facts regardless of the impact on the entity's representation.  Do you think this UN report, which will be introduced, at least in part in the trial, is it something the UN stands behind as an objective report, or was it, as the Government seems to say, an exercise in…?

Spokesman:  Look, I'm not going to go…  I'm not going to argue what a party to this trial has to say.  The report was conduct… was ordered following the revelations regarding the former PGA.  It was put… it was conducted in order to see how the operations of the Office of the President of the General Assembly could be improved.  As… you know, as well as I do, the Office of the President of the General Assembly is one that is independent from the Secretary-General and over one he has no authority.

Inner City Press: But it's not just a party.  It's the prosecution that you've said that you're cooperating or have cooperated with.  I mean…

Spokesman:  I'm not going to comment on what… but I just stated our position regarding the report.

  The US Attorney's June 25 letter states, in footnote 1, that "the UN declined to identify to the Government all individuals who were interviewed in connection with the preparation of the Report." This Report is the UN Task Force Report, which Ng is trying to use to show that the UN had so few rules that his payments, including through South South News, weren't bribes but contributions. The UN should now answer for its refusal to cooperate in the prosecution of bribery within the UN. On June 27 Inner City Press asked Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for new Secretary General Antonio Guterres as for his two predecessors, but he refused to explain. Video here. UN transcript here: Inner City Press: Now that the UN bribery case  regarding Ng Lap Seng has begun — and it began yesterday in lower Manhattan — there's a filing dated 25 June.  This is a quote:  "The UN declined to identify to the Government all individuals who were interviewed in connection with the preparation of the report called the UN Task Force Report."   And this is being used by Ng Lap Seng to say he didn't bribe anyone because everyone bribes everyone at the UN, basically, is his defence.  And so, now, portions of the UN Task Force Report are not going to be produced to the jury because the Justice Department says the UN declined to identify, i.e., didn't cooperate.  I know I've asked you before about and you've said that the UN is fully cooperating with the authorities, and this is a statement in the letter by the Government to the court saying that that's not the case.  How do you explain it?  On what basis did the UN not provide this information as requested by the Government?

Spokesman:  We've cooperated extensively to facilitate the proper course of justice in this case.  The proceedings are ongoing, and I'm not going to make any comments while these proceedings are ongoing.

Inner City Press:  Do you see why it seems contradictory?

Spokesman:  You asked what you asked, and I said what I said.

On June 26, prospective jurors were summoned one by one up to speak to the judge, alongside Ng Lap Seng's lawyers and the prosecution. (White noise was turned on so they would not be overheard). Ng Lap Seng himself sat at the defense table, as he had sat at the UN Correspondents Association fundraiser where he bought access to Ban Ki-moon. In the courtroom on June 26, Inner City Press was spoken to by claimed Ng relatives, saying that Ng did nothing that others don't also do in the UN, pay money for access. That's true. During a break, US Marshals accompanied Ng up to the fifth floor bathroom. In the vending machines, 12 ounce sodas sold for a dollar. On the first floor, an ostensibly recycling garbage can had metal, plastic and garbage all going into the same bag, similar to the UN's fraud, now being exposed. Watch this site. Former South South News chief and diplomat Francis Lorenzo has been described in a Superseding Information as an "agent" of the UN, making it more difficult for the UN to dodge, despite it attempts to hinder Press coverage of the connections. Now in the run up to the trial, the judge has ruled on "evidence or argument concerning payments
made to the Antiguan Ambassador by those other than by Defendant Ng and/or the
media company." The media company is South South News - and in a new low, one of its main UN representatives has in June 2017 reappeared HIRED in the UN, at the UN Security Council no less. The UN is entirely corrupt. Meanwhile defendant Ng Lap Seng is trying to keep out of the upcoming trial his financial involvement with relatives of Jesse Jackson Jr (which again calls into question how the UN Department of Public Information didn't do even Google "due diligence," then evicted and restricts Inner City Press which asked DPI). Ng's filing quotes the government that "Mr. Ng made a loan to a UNOSSC employee who sought funding from Mr. Ng in order to pursue graduate studies." What has the UN done about any of this, beyond evicting and restricting the Press which is covering the story? On May 3, Inner City Press asked UN holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who not only didn't answer but also rebuffed a question about the UN in the DR Congo, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: John Ashe case and DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo[.  There are two new filings in the John Ashe case, and I wanted to ask you about, in particular, one of them is a superseding indictment of Francis Lorenzo, and it describes him in paragraph 3 as an agent of an organization, to wit, the UN did corruptly solicit and demand, etcetera.  But I guess what I’m wondering is, now, if the US Attorney is describing Mr. Francis Lorenzo as an agent of the UN, does this change the way the UN is looking at the case?

Spokesman:  We’re looking at the case.  I’m not aware that Mr. Lorenzo is an agent of the UN.  But, again, we’re looking at the case.  And, when we have something more to say, we’ll let you know.

Inner City Press: And another filing at the same time says that… that Ng Lap Seng provided money to and educational loans to a staff member of the Office of South-South Cooperation.  That’s not something I ever saw…

Spokesman:  Okay.  I… I… we have… obviously, we’re following the case.  I don’t have anything to say while the proceedings are ongoing.  Thank you.  I’m going to get Mr. Takasu.

  Lorenzo has now expanded his guilty plea to admit paying bribes to now deceased President of the UN General Assembly John Ashe, and soliciting bribes from Ng. Lorenzo will testify against Ng, whose motion to dismiss the case has been denied. But the UN is still in denial. On April 28 Inner City Press asked the UN's holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: Francis Lorenzo, the former head of South-South News and former Deputy Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the UN has expanded his guilty plea to a clear and clean admission of having bribed former PGA [President of the General Assembly], may he rest in peace, John Ashe, and he's going to testify against Ng Lap Seng.  It gives rise… this now seems to be previously just tax charges.  Now he's saying, on the record… taking responsibility, saying he knew it was wrong at the time that he did it.  So, my question is:  As the case… as the case gets more pointedly in terms of what took place inside the United Nations walls… and yesterday I saw the former DGACM [Department of General Assembly and Conference Management] individual, now retired, who I believe… it seems from the audit is the one that changed the document.  What is the ramification?  Was anything ever done for that changed document, and what is exactly OLA [Office of Legal Affairs] doing now that there's admission not just of tax charges or evasion, of bribery…?

Spokesman:  First of all, the alleged bribery you're referring to does not involve a staff member of the UN.  There were audits done, and the situation was looked at very carefully in the past two years, if my memory is correct.  We continue, obviously, to follow the developments in the case, and if we need to act upon anything that is revealed by the time the case is done, we shall do so.
Inner City Press:  But, I guess the goal of the bribery was to obtain a UN document saying that Macau Conference Center was needed, and that document was obtained from DGACM.  So, are you saying that somehow the actual… the ultimate act that they wanted was done without any…?

Spokesman:  That's not what I'm saying.

Inner City Press: But, what was done?  I saw the guy walking around.  Was there any repercussion of any individual named in the audit?

Spokesman:  As I said, as more information comes to light, we'll act upon it.

  Right. The corruption into which the UN sank during the tenure of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose head of the Department of Public Information Cristina Gallach did no due diligence as Ng bought illegal events in the UN and even the UN's slavery memorial, and DPI's censorship of and threats against the Press which reports on the Ng and South South News case has yet to be addressed or even stopped. This has been raised to the top of the Secretariat. Ng's associate Jeff Yin has also pleaded guilty to working to violate UN tax laws with South South News. The UN Department of Public Information evicted and still restricts Inner City Press for seeking to cover UN links to South South News; this month DPI has refused to explain the basis. On April 12 when Inner City Press about the UN's holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the guilty plea, he said SSN is "no longer" at the UN, as if that resolved it. It doesn't, and that has been raised. Video here; from the UN transcript: Inner City Press: question about this Ng Lap Seng, previously John Ashe, case.  There’s been now a guilty plea by John Ashe’s lone remaining co-defendant, Jeffrey Yin.  And in his guilty plea, he states that South-South News intentionally paid him in cash in order to evade US tax laws.  That’s what he’s pled guilty to. Given the supposed inquiry by the UN, what’s the response?  It’s not a matter of waiting until the end of the case.  This is a…

Spokesman:  My understanding is South-South News is no longer accredited as a news organization to the UN.

  Under Dujarric, South South News content was included in UN TV webcast and archives; Dujarric threw Inner City Press out of the UN Press Briefing Room for seeking to cover South South News payees in the UN, and worked on the UN misleading memo to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Paragraph 9 and 10, here.

  Ng is set for trial, but now an adjournment has been granted to May. The letter motion by Ng Lap Seng's lawyers cites a need to review "many thousands of pages of banking records, emails and other documents related to Jeff Yin, Mr.
Ng, Vivian Wang, SKI, and SSN, among others. We are still awaiting production of voluminous
documents, including information contained in DVDs and CDs seized from Vivian Wang’s
residence, tax information for a number of alleged co-conspirators, South South News
documents, phone records, and additional Ashe emails." So is the UN even checking out these new records, to reform itself? It seems not. On April 7 Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here

Inner City Press Asked UN Why South South News in UNTV, Partial Answer, DPI Links

By Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up on Exclusives

UNITED NATIONS, March 24 -- For more than six months Inner City Press has asked the UN about its dealings with South South News, run by Vivian Wang and Frank Lorenzo, former Deputy Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic and head of South South News, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery at the UN.

 Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had accepted a South South prize from Lorenzo and Wang, as Inner City Press reported in October 2015, never commented. But his UN put South South News content in its UNTV archive, which after Press questions it as only partial explained; links with DPI remains unexplained.

 Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric on February 9 told Inner City Press, “I'm done answering questions.” Vine here. On February19, Inner City Press was ousted from the UN, see below.

 On March 18, Vivian Wang of South South News was indicted. While much of the coverage -- and UN spin -- tried to distance the UN Secretariat from the expanding scandal, it's important at this point to return to Ban Ki-moon with Vivian Wang, here; and Ban's "Communications" official who cut Inner City Press' accreditation with no due process, Cristina Gallach, with Vivian Wang, here.  And here are Ban and Gallach together:

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Ban swears in Gallach, Feb 3, 2015, credit UN Photo/Mark Garten

On March 22, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq questions about South South News, which Haq characterized as "bullying," video here,UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: Can I ask you about South-South News?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Yeah.

Inner City Press:  Okay.  In light of the new indictment of Vivian Wang, I have some questions, because the intertwining of the UN, particularly DPI (Department of Public Information) and South-South News seems extensive, so just in rapid fire…

Deputy Spokesman:  I would object to that characterization, but proceed.

Inner City Press:  All right.  Then let's see.  Let's go down the line.  In the 64th meeting of the UN-DPI NGO, there's a reference slipped into the text to South-South News distribution.  I want to know, is that at reference to South-South News?  And if so, what's it doing in there?  I also wanted to know, Stéphane Dujarric did an interview with South-South News, which is online.  There was a matching programme for a grant, a thing that the Secretary-General appeared at in which, on UN News Centre itself, it says this was a matching grant from South-South News.  What was the protocol for this now maligned or described as essentially corrupt and a vehicle for bribery entity to make such matching grants?  I also wanted to know, as I've asked before without explanation, how South-South News got its content into the UN webcast archives, which no other entity does.  So I'll stop, there's more, but since you say they're not intertwined, can you describe those five intertwinings and what the UN is going to do about it given that South-South News is not part of the Ban Ki-moon-defined audit of bribery in the UN?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Well, we'll see what any audit… what the results of an audit are once that's completed, first off.  Second off, I believe we researched into the appearance of South-South News on the UN archive.  I believe one of my colleagues has been looking into that, and we'll try to get further information on that.  Stéphane Dujarric gives interviews to lots and lots of people, including most of you in this very room.  That has nothing to do with checking out the credentials of who it is who is interviewing him when that happens.

Inner City Press:  Since the… [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman:  It’s the same as with the rest of us.  Please stop interrupting me.

Inner City Press:  Okay.  Well, you did yesterday.  Yesterday you walked out as I was asking questions.  So I just want to make sure you remain…

Deputy Spokesman:  You were not asking questions.

Inner City Press:  Yes, I was.

Deputy Spokesman:  No.  No, you were trying to defend an action that you took some time ago which you know to be in the wrong.  I'm not going to engage with you on that.  I’ve said my piece on that. [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  I was asking you a question about how this room was used.  [cross talk]  Say whatever you want, but don't leave the podium, please, until the questions are finished.

Deputy Spokesman:  I will answer all your questions.  I do not give in to bullying from anyone any time.  Anyway…

Inner City Press:  You're the one at the podium.

Deputy Spokesman:  I do not give in to bullying from anyone at any time.  Anyway, regarding the status of South-South News, however, I mean, in light of the latest information, that is something that is being reviewed.  And we'll have to see where we go with that.

Inner City Press:  So this one where it says… it saysmatching funds from the media platform South-South News, this is a un.org News Centre story.  What is that about?  Can you… I guess I'm wondering, you said that you're looking into the archives, but I asked this questionmore than a month ago.  So how long does it take to find out how, during the tenure that Mr. Dujarric was in charge of UN Television, this information got put in?  I mean, what exactly are you doing to investigate it is my question.

Deputy Spokesman:  One of my colleagues has been asking around about how that was.  Yes?

 On March 24 - on the 23rd, Haq forestalled any South South News follow up by saying, only one more question -- Inner City Press asked Haq again, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: On South-South News, the other day, I asked you some specific questions, of how their content was included in UN webcast archives, I went back and looked.  This is something that I asked in October.  So, you'd said that somebody is looking into it.  Given that it's now March, what exactly have… how have they been looking into it?  And also, I want to read you something that's on South-South News's website today, which says, South-South News received backing of UN Under-Secretary-General of Department of Public Information.  And I wanted to know… I'm looking at it now.  Does this still stand?  What do you say to this presentation?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Yes, my colleague did look into this.  The request was from UN-Habitat to use some information that was provided by South-South News for a project by Habitat.

Inner City Press: I just am noting on the South-South News question that there's more than one use, and one that I'm looking at now is called "A High-level Political Forum:  A Focus on Climate", and it has nothing to do with UN-Habitat.  So, I guess I'd encourage you, since it was asked in October, there's not just one… there probably is one that's from UN-Habitat, but there are number of them.

 Where will it end? Including USG of DPI support?

On March 21, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, Vine here (full video not given by 8 pm), UN transcript here.

  If South South Chediek belatedly takes questions on his dealings, it will be more than what's been done by Cristina Gallach, who after refusing to directly answer Inner City Press' October 2015 question about her attendance at the South South Awards with Frank Lorenzo threw Inner City Press out of the UN with no due process on Feb 19.

  Given Gallach's dealings with Vivian Wang, and that Inner City Press has questioned Gallach in October 2015 about her South South dealings, it seems clear that in any legitimate system, Gallach would have had to recuse herself from any decision to oust Inner City Press and cut its accreditation. We'll have more on this.

On March 18 while Inner City Press, ousted from the UN, hounded from its lobby even at 8 pm, sought answers at the US State Department briefing in Washington, at the UN in New York Ban's spokesman and Reuters engaged in any easy colloquy about the indictment.

But South South News gave money to the UN Correspondents Association, on whose board Reuters has what appears to be a permanent seat. Are they in a position to pursue the ramifications of South South News' corruption? No.

 In fact, Reuters in 2012 tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN (sample FOIA document here, documents Reuters bureau chief Banned from Google's Search here) and in 2013 along with AFP, as now at all hours, was associated with an anti-Press anonymous troll social media account. We'll have more on this.

Now that Lorenzo has formally pleaded guilty to bribery, the implications of the October 2015 charge sheet, which called Ng's and Lorenzo's South South News "NGO 1" -- casts new light on the ouster - and the ousters.

  Since October 2015, the UN  -- and its partner the UN Correspondents Association -- have been on notice that South South News was the vehicle for $12 million in bribes from Ng Lap Seng.

  UNCA took some of this month, and delivered for Ng a photo op with Ban Ki-moon.

  But for Inner City Press trying to cover, on just this corruption issues, the UNCA event in the UN Press Briefing Room on January 29, Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric and head of Communications Cristina Gallach threw Inner City Press into the street, Banned it from its office and cut its accreditation.

  By contrasts, exposed South South News still has its UN office. Corruption is fine in Ban's UN - it's trying to COVER corruption that bring down disproportionate punishment, with no due process.

As described in the charge sheet, Lorenzo was president of South South News, through which Ng Lap Seng funnels $12 million in bribes from 2009 on.

(South South News is called "NGO-1" but also a self-described "21st Century media platform" - South South News.)

As Inner City Press has asked about and reported, South South News funnel tens of thousands of dollars into the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA). Then UNCA delivered Ban Ki-moon for a private photo-op with Ng Lap Seng, precisely when Ng was seeking / paying for anything seeming to show UN support for the Macau conference center he was trying to build.

 How should South South News' payments to UNCA, and UNCA's role in Ng's photo op with Ban, be viewed? The question has been and will be asked. UNCA's response? A number of anonymous troll social media accounts, of the type Media Bistro linked in 2013 at the UN to Reuters and AFP, here. The difference this time is that Dujarric and DPI chief Gallach follow them, and one of Dujarric's staff openly "likes" the troll.

UNCA, Dujarrch and Gallach functionally tried to stop Inner City Press from covering this, see below. And the questioning, and reporting on corruption and censorship, has not been by wire services entertwined with UNCA. Inner City Press has raised this to them; watch this site.

  On February 19 Inner City Press was ordered out of the UN, which it has covered for ten years as a Resident Correspondent with a shared office full of files, by a letter signed that day with two hours notice by Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach - who attended the September 2015 South South Awards with Lorenzo, photo here.

  On Gallach's order, and with the participation of Ban's spokesman Dujarric, Inner City Press was thrown out onto First Avenue along with its laptop, but without its passport still in its shared office, by eight UN Security guards.Audio here. On February 22, UN Security told Inner City Press it was Banned from all UN premises.

  After stories in BuzzFeed and Business Insider, Inner City Press re-entered the UN on a much reduced “non-resident correspondent” pass, Banned from covering such events as UN Security Council reform, Sri Lanka and terrorism, and the Office of the President of the General Assembly. (Inner City Press has continued, with sources, to report, for example here.)

  The harassment continued: hours after Inner City Press raised its case orally to Ban Ki-moon and his deputy, UN Security against physically ordered Inner City Press to leave the UN, at 8 pm.  Video here.

Dujarric said it is not his job to find Inner City Press a place to work. Q&A here. More and seemingly final threats were made on March 14 -- just before it emerged that Lorenzo is pleading guilty to bribery charges. Now what?

  The UN has proved itself unable to reform itself. Under Secretaries General Inner City Press contacted about Gallach's outrageous no due process order, and her failure to recuse herself, did nothing. One said, You can only speak with Gallach; another said, I don't get involved in individual cases.

On March 14, after the threats and asked about Inner City Press' detailed email about the violation of its rights as a journalist, a third USG said, Do you expect me to respond to that? Well, yes.

  The DC-based Government Accountability Project wrote to the US Mission to the UN urging them to work to get Inner City Press' resident correspondent accreditation and office restored. But US Ambassador for Management and Reform Isobel Coleman did not even respond to Inner City Press' detailed March 3 email; an oral question to Samantha Power at the UN Security Council stakeout on March 14 after the threats has gone unanswered. Vine here.

  Now what? Beyond Lorenzo's guilty plea, how will the UN be cleaned up? All retaliatory acts must be rescinded and appropriate impartial investigations launched.

The pretext Gallach used to oust Inner City Press was its attempt on January 29 to cover a meeting of the UN Correspondents Association, which took money from Lorenzo's South South News and then granted a photo op with Ban Ki-moon to the main funder, also indicted Ng Lap Seng.

The meeting was in the UN Press Briefing Room, apparently “lent” to UNCA by Ban's spokesman Dujarric, who at UNCA boss Giampaolo Pioli's request came in and told Inner City Press to leave so he could see his “f*cking kids.”

Inner City Press said it would leave the glassed in interpreter's booth from which it was live-streaming the meeting as soon as UN Security asked it to. One guard came in and said that Spokesman Dujarric wanted Inner City Press to leave, which it did, and published a story and video.

  Without once speaking to Inner City Press, Gallach used this “incident” as a pretext to throw Inner City Press out. Inner City Press has asked the UN the following questions:

Please explain the lending of the UN Press Briefing Room to Lorenzo, and that it was not listed in the days' UN Media Alert.

Please explain USG Gallach's appearance with Lorenzo at the South South Awards, which ICP reported, and that USG Gallach did not recuse herself from ordering Inner City Press' expulsion from its UN office on 2 hours' notice on February 19.

Please explain your [Dujarric's] role, on January 29 to February 19, in the expulsion of Inner City Press.

Please state who lend the UN Press Briefing Room to UNCA on Jan 29.

As a matter of UN ethics, shouldn't USG Gallach have offered me an opportunity to be heard, some due process?

As a matter of UN ethics, to whom an the UN Press Briefing Room be "lent," and by whom, on what basis, without disclosure?

Please provide your response: should staff of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General, and staff of DPI, accept free liquor and other gift from UNCA, while giving UNCA the UN Press Briefing Room and ousting other journalist whom UNCA's leadership doesn't like?

Please state, no or yes and explain: Do staff of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General provide advance copies of UN documents to favored journalists who are affiliated to UNCA?

And now: “This is a formal request for Ban Ki-moon's comment on the guilty plea for conspiracy to commit bribery etc by Frank Lorenzo.” Watch this site.

On Burundi, Inner City Press Asks UN Of Its Doctoring of French Deputy Lamek's Q&A, Cut of Power Encounter

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 25 -- After UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on New Year's Eve issued a statement surreally praising the Burundi “talks” held in Entebbe, Uganda, multiple sources told Inner City Press these not really talks but rather a photo op. The January 6 session announced for Arusha did not happen.  Inner City Press requested to cover the UNSC's trip to Burundi, but was UNtransparentlyrejected.

On January 25, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric why when the UN belatedly put online video of press encounters during the Security Council's mission to Burundi, it trimmed a longer stakeout by French Deputy Alexis Lamek, which gave rise to controversy, down to a mere 16 seconds.

  Dujarric replied this was how the video were received from "our colleagues in Bujumbura." Video here. Which colleagues? Who decided to selectively cut the video and why? And to omit an encountered between US Power and Bururndian security that even the US Special Envoy on the Great Lakes found significant? From the UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: on Burundi, just now at the stakeout UK [United Kingdom] Ambassador [Matthew] Rycroft said we didn't get a huge amount out of the trip.  And I'm wondering, does the Secretariat or Mr. Benomar have any comment on what was or wasn't achieved?  And just more nitty-gritty, I wanted to ask you, I did notice that your office or the UN put up three parts of stakeouts that took place in Bujumbura.  I guess I wanted to know, they seem to cut off… there seems… like, I know that Pierre Nkurunziza spoke.  I know that there was a much longer statement by the French ambassador that was put online.  Who decided to put 16 seconds online rather than the full stakeout?

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:  I think that's the video we received from our colleagues in Bujumbura.  It's not up to us to put up video of the President or anyone else who is not involved who is not directly part of the UN mission.  We're there to cover the UN mission.  As far as the other ambassadors, we put up what we received.

Inner City Press:  But, I've seen video of Ambassador Lamek speaking at great length, and you have 16 seconds.  Is that…?

Spokesman:  Perhaps it was a different…

Inner City Press:  Who decides…?

Spokesman:  …perhaps there was a different… perhaps there was a different stakeout or so on.

Inner City Press:  Okay.  Is there any comment more substantively on--

Spokesman:  Obviously, on the trip, we will let the ambassadors report back when they report back officially to the Security Council.  I think the trip by the Security Council delegation underscores the critical situation in Burundi and underscores the international community's commitment to ensure and to do whatever it can to restart the political process and ensure calm in the country.

  We'll have more on this.

Inner City Press asked Ban's spokespeople about the trip on January 20, 21 and 22 - including asking why the UN was not providing a video or at least audio stream of the January 22 press encounters, says it has a  "UN Information Center" in Bujumbura, which produced a smiling photo of the French deputy ambassador Alexis Lamek on the tarmac. The UN said it couldn't.

  Local media in Burundi put online a video in which Lamek spoke at length; afterward a pro-government Burundian media quoted Lamek that "we" take seriously the question of interference by Rwanda to destabilize Burundi and will be working on it.

  But the four scribes handpicked to accompany the Security Council trip, inlcuding Agence France Presse, it seems, for some reasons didn't cover it. Why? We'll have more on this. Instead, AFP, Reuters andVoice of America (which saw "Liberians" then cited auto-correct) filed near-identical stories with no quotes from opposition figures or attacked journalists. None of the three even tweeted on January 23, other than Reuters as a robot: talk about Old Media.

  How could "Agence France Presse," handpicked to publicize the UNSC trip co-led by France, not even cover the controversy?

  We note that the French Mission to the UN said that Lamek was being misrepresented (the same French Mission has tried to shield Lamek from critical Press questions, which here on Vine Lamek has refused to answer even when entirely audible). Later an AFP quote emerged of Lamek saying that any AU force, even the 100 human rights observers, should significantly focus on the Rwandan border.

  On the evening of January 23 the UN has put up select clips including a mere 16 seconds of French deputy ambassador Lamek, much less than the local Burundian media present at the same press encountered had.  If the UN filmed the press encounters, why did it so selectively edit them?

  More specifically, now, who decided on the edits?

Inner City Press, which is the media which on January 22 asked for the live-stream, has asked the UN, publicly on Twitter, here, and in more detail by e-mail to three top UN spokespeople:

"having just seen that your Office put online edited video from Burundi, must ask: why did UN edit the footage it has, with no Burundi government speaker, and only 16 seconds of France, penholder in the UNSC on Burundi? Please provide the full footage, in response to this request and, separately, online. Would also still like answers to questions below" on Burundi.

 And still no answers at all, the next day. Watch this site.

  The UN spokespeople refused to say, but beyond the pro-government "religious leaders" that they cited, the Council also met with at least some of the concerned members of civil society, and some journalists who inevitably raised the issue of attacks and censorship. This was not mentioned by the UN.

  We're told that Ambassador Albert Shingiro, who blocks the Press on Twitter, told the scribes that US Power said she would send “a strong message to the government of Rwanda." Again, Shingiro blocks the Press on Twitter: some diplomat.

  One of the four handpicked pass-throughs opined that "the fact that Council members presented Nkurunziza with a largely unified message on the different issues was seen as a positive sign that they had come closer to a common position." So they traveled to Burundi to work on their own issues? We'll have more on this - and on the Council's junket-ending meetings in Addis, if not on Oromo protests, than this we've asked about. Watch this site.

On January 22 -- at 4:32 pm in New York, four minutes before Inner City Press then published it -- the UN has issued this Note to Correspondents:

"Security Council members just departed Bujumbura less than an hour ago. The delegation is headed to Addis to meet with the Peace and Security Council of the African Union tomorrow.

"Council members met with a range of stakeholders during their visit to Burundi, including the President, First Vice President, Foreign Minister and representatives from political parties, the media, and civil society organizations. The Council also met with religious leaders.

Special Adviser Jamal Benomar is in Burundi. The core group of his team called for in Resolution 2248 deployed to Bujumbura and will be engaged with all stakeholders to support dialogue and address security concerns."

 How?

   On January 22, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq for the UN's response to Pierre Nkurunziza denying the existence of his party's youth militia, and why there was no video or even audio stream of the Security Council's - and Nkurunziza's -- press statements. Video here.

  Haq replied that "the facilities are difficult," that the UN Spokesperson's Office had reached out to the traveling party for information but hadn't gotten any. The Free UN Coalition for Accesscalls this a failure.

 On January 21 Inner City Press in New York learned both of Pierre Nkurunziza plans to parade "community work" for the Security Council members on January 22 and has been provided with a letter promoting same, here.

  On January 22, even after the Council's meeting with Nkurunziza was over, when Inner City Press asked the UN for a read-out there was none, nor any good explanation of why the UN with its country team could not arrange at least an audio stream of the Council's (and Nkurunziza's) press statements.

  Inner City Press asked the head of the Campaign Against the Third Term (“Halte au troisième mandat”) Vital Nshimirimana about the UNSC visit, and why the AU human rights observers are not yet in place. His answers to Inner City Press:

"As for the deployment of the AU Human rights observers, I would recall that the same was decided back in June following the June 13, 2015 Johannesburg Summit on Burundi. Initially, the number was to be about 70 observers but the government refused and allowed a narrow team.

"My thought over the issue is that Nkurunziza has chosen to humiliate everybody in as much as he does not care about any principle or value. So, the AU and other bodies as well choose to deal with him very carefully for he is a man (and a regime) "irrational," likely to commit whatever crime, insult whomever.....

"With regard to the UNSC visit, I hope this is the very last warning towards a kind of regime likely to commit genocide. They are expected to dually and objectively assess the situation and especially the strength and presence of Imbonerakure, the CNDD-FDD militia.... And this was shown through a huge anti- peacekeeping mission mission to Burundi, MAPROBU rhetoric.
Burundians expect the UNSC support the deployment of such a mission in line with the responsibility to protect (Pillar III) since Burundi is no longer able and is unwilling to protect citizens from crimes against humanity (ongoing from April 2015) and genocide (of which dozens of signs suggest that it is likely to happen and some acts are already undertaken).

Lastly, the UNSC is expected to talk with Nkurunziza and the AU as well regarding peace talks. They should assess Museveni's performance, after what conclude that he should be assigned AU and UN teams (to enhance his capacity) or change him.... I commend your endeavors to keep the world informed about the Burundi crisis."

 We'll have more on this -- including in light the UN Deputy Spokesperson's response to Inner City Press that transcripts may be provided.

  Here are parts of an Inner City Press interview with a journalist attacked by the Nkurunziza government and for that reason anonymous:

In English: "It would be better if the Security Council met for example UPRONA leader Nditije Charles, with the non-governmental branch of the UPRONA party) or his Spokesman Thacien Sibomana. The Council should try to meet civil society but  there is almost no one left to really speak with now in Bujumbura. All those still in Bujumbura, they can't say anything about the abuses of authorithies. If it was possible, they should ask to meet the young men in prison. They should see themselves how the government abuses those young men, with tortures... Tell them visit to the prisoners in Gitega (those who are accused to attempting a coup d'etat) UN has the right to visit prisoners."

  Inner City Press note: another source says "the government moved several detainees from the SNR jails. I highly doubt they'd allow a visit to detainees."

 Tellingly, IWACU reports that bike taxi and motorcycle taxi drivers offered money to protest in favor of Nkurunziza weren't, after the fact, paid: here.
    At the January 21 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about the "community works" and meeting(s). Video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press:  I wanted to ask you this just because I'm trying to cover it, and I know that you'd said yesterday that the Special Adviser, Jamal Benomar, is in Burundi in part of the trip.  So what I wanted to ask you is, I've seen documents that show that the… the… the… tomorrow, the meeting with the President, [Pierre] Nkurunziza, will involve a demonstration of “community work”, i.e., people have been asked to go and I don't know if it's to show how happy they are — Gitega and Karuzi.  Does the Special Adviser… not the Security Council, does the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General believe that this type of… of… of show is the right one and will they be meeting with UPRONA and other opposition groups or prisoners currently in jail?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Well, we'll be able to provide details of the meetings once they've taken place.  As you know, the expectation is for the members of the Council to meet with President Nkurunziza.  That hasn't happened so far, but once that's happened, we'll see what the circumstances are and what the views of Mr. Benomar are.



 This is reminiscent of the type of dog-and-pony show Sri Lanka's then President Mahinda Rajapaksa put on for visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and that Inner City Press accompanied and covered(apparently not to the UN's and its allies' liking - it has been Banned from trips since.) But will the UNSC, unlike Ban, have the fortitude or leverage to reject a dog and pony show? Watch this site.

On January 19 at the UN, Inner City Press asked Uruguay's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Jose Luis Cancela, chairing the Security Council debate on Protection of Civilians, about Burundi and the Council's trip. Video here.

  On January 21, Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Accessasked UK Permanent Representative Matthew Rycroft about his stop-over on Addis Ababa, "will you as UK meet with AU before heading to Burundi? About AU's proposed deployment?"

   Rycroft replied, "Yes! Looking forward to meeting @AU_Chergui today. Will also return to Addis with whole UNSC after Burundi."

  In Addis, Chergui had filed the Concept of Operation for the MAPROBU peacekeeping mission. We'll have more on this.

  Burundian civil society has written to Ban seeking the repatriation of the country's peacekeepers. Inner City Press has put the letter from Vital Nshimirimana to Ban online here, and will be asking the UN about it. Watch this site.

  On December 30 Nkurunziza threatened to have his forces attack peacekeepers proposed for the country.


Obtained by Inner City Press

Ladsous' lack of vetting was criticized in the recently released report into the cover up of peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic. Earlier, Inner City Press exclusive reported on Ladsous in his October 1, 2015 meeting with Burundi's vice president saying that he is "pragmatic" on human rights.

 On December 16 Inner City Press was banned from questions to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, but learned from the mission MINUSCA that Baratuza was already in Entebbe. Inner City Press asked several Security Council members, then Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric on December17.

Dujarric told Inner City Press Baratuza's deployment is suspended and he is being repatriated: "based on the information we've received regarding the Lieutenant Colonel, his deployment has been suspended, and he will be repatriated back to Burundi." Video here. Dujarric told Inner City Press this shows the UN system working - on a day when a report on rapes was issued showing UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous not sufficiently vetting for human rights. We'll have more on this.



 Amid the escalating killings in Burundi, last weekend's summary executions in neighborhoods opposed to Pierre Nkurunziza's third term stand out. But Burundi Army spokesman Gaspard Baratuza was quoted on December 12 blaming all of the deaths on attempts to steal weapons to free prisoners.

   Inner City Press had heard that Mr. Baratuza was already in the process of being deployed to the UN Peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) even when he was giving these quotes, issuing statements and speaking to state-owned radio, and so asked MINUSCA's acting spokesperson, “Is Gaspard Baratuza of Burundi's army getting a MINUSCA job?”

  On December 16, hours before UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held a rare press conference, MINUSCA's acting spokesperson sent this to Inner City Press:

"To: Matthew.Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
From: Vladimir MONTEIRO [at] UN.org
Date: Wed, Dec 16, 2015
Subject: ICP question: Gaspard Baratuza of Burundi's army getting a MINUSCA-related post?
Cc: FUNCA [at] funca.info

"No decision related to Lt Col Baratuza's deployment can be taken before we finish looking into the matter. We can confirm that Lt Col Baratuza is in Entebbe but he has not yet deployed to MINUSCA.  Regards. VNM"

There are some questions about Baratuza, a Colonel in Burundi's Army, being listed by the UN as “Lt. Col.”

  Despite multiple follow-up questions by Inner City Press, Mr. Monteiro - previously a spokesperson for the UN electoral mission in Burundi - replied that “This is what we can say about this issue.”

   But the UN should have to say more. Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the UN how its Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous vets those who deploy to UN missions; Inner City Pressexclusively reported on an October 1, 2015 meeting in which Ladsous told Burundi's Vice President Joseph Butare that he is “pragmatic” on human rights.



 Ban Ki-moon and his spokesman declined to take Inner City Press' questions on December 16, as they did on December 14. Vine here.  Watch this site.

On French Paris Attacks Resolution, Amendments & Delay UNexplained by French Mission, Including to Diplomats

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 20, updated -- After France circulated in the UN Security Council the post-Paris Attacks resolution repeatedly talked about by French President Francois Hollande, it immediately on November 19 put it "in blue" for voting, which would then take place as early as November 20. And UNTV - and the French Mission spokesperson to favored scribes - aid the vote would occur, at 3 pm.

But when 3 o'clock came, while UNTV was at the Security Council stakeout, there was no vote. Exiting the Council were the Permanent Representatives of Jordan, New Zealand and Spain, along with Staffan de Mistura and UN OCHA's Stephen O'Brien: an UNrelated humanitarian meeting.

  Other diplomats milled around; there were complaints against the French mission. One said, I shouldn't be learning this from (your) Twitter. Others said there had been amendments, adding an explanation of Article 51 for Russia, so explain post-Libya how the resolution should not be misused. We'll have more on this. For now, UNTV sent this: "Time yet to be decided pm   LIVE   Security Council 7564th meeting:  Adoption: Resolution on counterterrorism"

 In the morning when French Ambassador Francois Delattre entered the Security Council for a regularly scheduled meeting about Peacekeeping Operations featuring Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop UN Peacekeeping, Delattre spoke about the French draft resolution.Periscope video here. As fast transcribed by InnerCityPro.com:

“We hope for a vote the sooner the better, I cannot tell you when exactly, but it is one week after the attacks... There is no reason frankly there is only good spirit and good vibes so to speak around the table... I am cautious by nature, the mood is really good.

 “We try to have something that can unite everyone at the Security Council the Russians included. We think we should not waste time, we have a good partnership with Ambassador Churkin with all the other ambassadors... it's a question of the last mile, I will tell you more as soon as I know.”

  Inner City Press and others asked about Mali and the attack on the Radisson Hotel there. Delattre said, “We are closely watching the situation with great concern of course but no particular comment at this stage.” No comment? Shouldn't a terrorist attack in sub-Saharan Africa be added to the French draft? Some say the vote might be as early at 1 pm. 

Update: the French mission spokesperson doled this out later to favored correspondents Update II: UNTV says 3 pm: 
 "3:00pm   LIVE   Security Council 7564th meeting: Adoption: Resolution on counterterrorism"

  Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Thursday afternoon told reporters he saw nothing "offensive in it," that a couple of days could have improved it but that perhaps both resolutions could be adopted,citing 9/11/01 as a precedent.

 On his way into the Security Council's regularly scheduled meeting on Kosovo, Churkin stopped and told the press that “Theirs is much more narrow draft, ours is broader, more fundamental so basically I don't see much of a contradiction. We're studying it. I don't [see] anything particularly offensive. This is a good draft, we are looking at it. Maybe if they took a day or two more to work on it they could have improved a thing or two.”

   On if both draft resolutions could be adopted, Churkin said, “I think they could, because if you think back to events after 9/11, first there was a short draft then a couple of weeks later there was a more comprehensive draft.”

The day before on November 18 after Russia circulatedits resolution, French Permanent Representative Francois Delattre came out to talk to the media, not on UNTV but by the steps. He said, as fast transcribed by InnerCityPro:

"Russia requested this meeting on the issue of terrorism, and introduced once again this September 30th draft resolution... I repeated our total determination to fight Daesh, a fight which requires a united response from the whole international community. As you know French President Francois Hollande announced that the Security Council must adopt as soon as possible a resolution on the fight against Daesh. We are actively working to prepare a text that will be short, strong, and focused on the fight against our common enemy, Daesh. Short, strong, and focused on the fight against Daesh. And in this respect we consider the Russian proposal is a contribution that will be carefully studied.

 "I think we have two different texts here. The text we have in mind, and that we are working on very closely, strongly, following President Hollande’s statement, is a text that is strong, short, that is Daesh-centered, and that has one goal after the tragic Paris attack, which is to make sure that the international community is united, finally united, in the fight against Daesh. We all know the threat. The threat is still here. So this is our political responsibility asa the Security Council to have this text adopted, not for long, or endless negotiations about the niceties, but one, simple, clear political message. We need, and this is our responsibility, to have a text which all key actors of the international community can unite in order to act, and to act together." 

Together?

"  On November 17 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced that Ban would sign the condolence book at the French Mission to the UN that afternoon.

  After 2 pm, the UN emailed out “*SG PHOTO-OP ADDED*” so Inner City Press went to the French Mission to cover it.

  In the lobby of 245 East 47th Street, also known as One Dag, the security officer said he would call upstairs to French Mission, on the 44th floor, and get the OK. The guard handed the photo to Inner City Press, which explained why it was here, that the UN has announced this photo-op. The guard took the phone back. Video here.

  “They say no,” the guard said. France 24 was upstairs, and others who did not even report on it. Inner City Press waited in the lobby, exchanging pleasantries with a half dozen diplomats including the Permanent Representative of Palau; passers-by in the One Dag lobby included the Permanent Representative of a country France has criticized for, ironically, freedom of the press. Video here.

  Ban Ki-moon and French Ambassador Francois Delattre came down,accompanied by Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The UN convoy pulled out onto Second Avenue. Later Dujarric's office would send out Ban's remarks -- Ban refused the only question asked -- and UNTV would distribute video of Ban and Mrs. Ban signing, even shots of the French hand-picked scribes in attendance. Would Charlie Hebdo have made the cut?

 On November 18, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Dujarric:

Inner City Press: You announced yesterday at this signing of the condolence book at the French Mission by the Secretary-General.  So I wanted to know, it seemed like I tried to go to your office.  You weren't there.  I went to MALU [Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit].  It seems like it's a UN thing, so I went to cover it, but I was unable to cover it when they called upstairs from the downstairs…

Spokesman Dujarric:  If it's a UN thing, if it happens in the UN.

Inner City Press:  Right.  Is it the Secretary-General's position where space exists for his outside events that UN journalists should be able to cover it or not?

Spokesman:  We rely on our hosts.

Back on September 28, 2015, the day of the UN Peacekeeping summit at the UN, Inner City Press managed to ask French President Francois Hollande about alleged rapes by French troops in the Central African Republic (CAR) and about French head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous having linked rapes to “recreation” and R&R. Video here.

  Hollande replied that when French troops are charged -- as they have been, in CAR -- France pushes for prosecutions, but also due process. Does that explain the one-year delay in the Sangaris CAR case?  The question was not taken.

  Later on September 28, Inner City Press went to cover the High Level Meeting on Peacekeeping, and found Ladsous slouched in his hair, wanly applauding pledges then glaring up at the photographers booth where Inner City Press was. Something is very wrong at the top of UN Peacekeeping - until it is addressed, the various commitments ring hollow.

A year after French President Francois Hollande tried to privatize the UN Press Briefing Room by having non-French journalists removed, his team on September 27, 2015 adopted a different strategy for the same result. At 8:40 am the UN said there would be a press conference by Hollande in just five minutes, at 8:45 am. Call it innovation.

  Apparently in his press conference, Hollande had many of the seats in the front of the UN Press Briefing Room “reserved” - because Brazil cited this as a precedent for their 11:30 am press conference by Dilma Rousseff (that's another story).  France, returning with Hollande for a session scheduled for 2:15 pm, again tried to control spaces in the front rows, as did the old UN Correspondents Association, which ejected a visiting journalist from “its” seat.

 And the question for Hollande? For Inner City Press, it would be what actions have been taken on the French soldiers alleged to have raped children in the Central African Republic. Watch this site.

Update: After Hollande came in, two people who had sat next to Inner City Press through the entire Japanese briefing from 1:30 pm got up, to give their seat to Laurent Fabuis and Royale. Then a lady approached Inner City Press, in full view of UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, and told Inner City Press to move, she's a "minister." Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access said Non, je suis journaliste, je veux poser ma question.

Meanwhile Ban Ki-moon said Peru's President Humala regretted not being present. But he WAS present, next to Hollande. Inner City Press asked Humala about the Trans Pacific Partnership on September 27: watch this site.

Back on September 23, 2014 the entourage of French President Francois Hollande repeatedly ordered the UN accredited Press to leave the UN's Press Briefing Room.

  A briefing by Hollande had been scheduled for 11 am, then was canceled. But at 10:55 am as a previous briefing about climate change was ending, Inner City Press was told to leave the room.

  The question, On whose orders? was not answered. Instead a woman in the French delegation said the room was "reserved." 

   This is not a restaurant, Inner City Press replied, now on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, which advocates for the rights of journalists and for a Freedom of Information Act covering the UN.

  Another member of the French delegation said loudly, "They'll take away his accreditation." It was not necessarily an idle threat: the UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric had looked into the room as this happened. 

   Inner City Press said, if UN Media Accreditation -- or UN Security -- tell me to leave, I will. But not before. Video here.

  Meanwhile the representative of the old UN Correspondents Alliance meekly left; previously, UNCA did nothing when previous French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud in this room told a Lebanese reporter, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent."

  After a time, the woman from Hollande's entourage said that the chief of UN Media Accreditation, whom she made a point of saying she knows well, was not answering the phone. A French security guard told Inner City Press to leave. But this is not their role, in the UN briefing room.

  Finally the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius and the new Permanent Representative to the UN came and sat in the front room with Inner City Press and FUNCA.  Hollande appeared from the doorway Spokesman Dujarric had looked out of.

  Hollande said he had come mostly about climate change, but that a French citizen had been taken hostage in Algeria by a group linked with ISIL or "Da'ech," as he called the group. He said arms deliveries would continue; he noted the previous night's air strikes, by others, on Syria.

  Hollande said he would meet in the afternoon with the Syrian Opposition Coalition's Hadi al Bahra, who he called the only legitimate leader of Syria. Then he left without taking questions.

  The day before, UNCA hosted al Bahra (as they had his predecessor Ahmad Jarba) in the clubhouse the UN gives this group, publicized only to those which pay it dues. Given that UNCA did nothing when Araud told the Lebanese reporter "you are not a journalist, you are an agent," why didn't Hollande hold his press conference in the club of UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance?

UNTV Still Has South South News, UN Correspondents Association Gave Ng's South South News An Award, Ng Photo Ops With Ban

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 5 -- As the scandal unveiled in thecorruption charges against former UN General Assembly President John Ashe, Ng Lap Seng, Francis Lorenzo of South South News and others continues to expand, their penetration of the UN is becoming clearer.

 As to South South News, SSN gave money to the UN Correspondents Association, got an UNCA award and got funder Ng Lap Seng photos with Ban Ki-moon at the award ceremony at Cipriani 42nd Street. (Now UNCA is asking $6,000 to sit with Ban at Cipriani Wall Street, see below).

 Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about this sale, and how South South Awards got its press release issued by the UN (Dujarric said the former is somehow fine "if transparent" while saying the latter was an error).

  Today, Inner City Press is showing that even UN Television put on its website South South News coverage, for example here, and it remains there even as SSN, with Frank Lorenzo having been indicted, is not publishing. Why did the UN partner with Ng's South South News in this way? We'll have more on this.

 In 2011 until now, Inner City Press has exposed UNCA for taking funds from Ng Lap Seng vehicles, to which it gave awards, and arranging Ng Lap Seng photo op(s) with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. UNCA has not provided any explanation; the UN through Ban's spokesman has said for example that many people get photographs with Ban. But people like Ng previously found in US Senate reports to have made irregular campaign contributions, and co-owning hotels links to prostitution?

  UNCA's first vice president went to Ng's Macau conference in late August 2015, for which numerous other attendees have told Inner City Press Ng paid for all travel and hotel, iPads, etc. Again, no answer from UNCA.

  Outrageously, after UNCA has been exposed as delivering photo ops to indictees Ng Lap Seng and Frank Lorenzo with Ban Ki-moon and others in previous UNCA "Balls," here is UNCA's new pitch to "Ambassadors" -- one question is, given the history, should Ban be going to such $12,000 a table events? What is being sold? Here is UNCA's recent 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)"

  What - to sell photo ops with Ban Ki-moon to businessness / brothel owners indicted for corruption and out on $50 million bail, the same money used to make contributions and then get UNCA "journalism" awards?

  These UNCA prices, though elevated, are less than what UNCA took from Ng Lap Seng's vehicles.

  Ng Lap Seng was found to have brought the same bags of cash later deployed at the UN into the US earlier, in the late 90s, when his Fortuna hotel was linked to organized crime and even human trafficking.  From the WSJ:

“Who is Ng Lap Seng, and what did he want? According to several well-informed sources in Hong Kong and Macau, Mr. Ng is a mysterious figure with extensive business in China, where he also held a minor post as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in his hometown of Nan Hai in Guangdong province. In Macau, his most visible interest is his ownership of the Fortuna Hotel, a garish high-rise in the gambling district, featuring a 20,000-square-foot nightclub with 'table dancing' by strippers, as well as a massage parlor and, according to its brochure, 'over 30 independent karaoke rooms, all luxuriously decorated with the most advanced sound system for any one interested in performing his favorite songs.' The brochure also boasts 'attractive and attentive hostesses from China, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Burma together with erotic girls from Europe and Russia, certainly offer you an exciting and unforgettable evening with friends or business associates.'”

So what does UN Women, which has still to comment on UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous linking rapes to “R&R,” same about Ban's UN (through UNCA) accepting “pimp and trafficker” Ng Lap Seng into the UN, and into UNCA's Cipriani ball for photos with Ban and his spouse? We'll have more on this.

 Just as UNCA "leaders" from Voice of America and Reuters(censorship bid here) tried to use the UN to get the investigative Press out, now the UN responds to questions about UNCA selling Secretary General Ban Ki-moon photo ops to Ng Lap Seng by suggesting that the questioner, because present, "condoned" the sale.

  Now, with UNCA still silent on its links with South South News and other Ng Lap Seng vehicles, here is video Inner City Press published in December 2011 of UNCA's murky photo ops for Ban at Cipriani, which UNCA seeks to reproduce this coming December.

  
  Even then in December 2011, Inner City Press' accompanying story reported that it

"filmed what it could of the photo op -- those arranging it kept telling the Press it had to leave -- and afterward several in Ban's circle said they had no idea who the businessmen had been. There was dark talk about one David Ng, a businessman who has bankrolled 'vanity' media projects given awards that night -- people funded by Ng used the word "vanity," so we use it here."

 Inner City Press published that in December 2011 about Ng and South South News; it quit UNCA and with another Executive Committee member who quit in disgust co-founded FUNCA, the Free UN Coalition for Access. UNCA continued taking funds from South South News. We'll have more on this.

While UNCA does not represent all journalists accredited to cover the UN -- Inner City Press for example quit the group in 2012 with another Executive Committee member and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access -- the UN gives it a privileged position, a large clubhouse on the third floor of the UN and, automatically, the first question at press conferences.

  But is that appropriate, given that UNCA received money from South South News, “NGO 1” in the filing against Ashe? Not only did UNCA receive money from South South News: it gave the group an “UNCA award” at a ceremony at the high-ceilinged Cipriani's restaurant on December 15, 2011.

  Inner City Press, which did not quit UNCA in fully ripened disgust in 2012, was present in December 2011 and witnessed, when Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came into Cipriani's, him being shepherded into a side room for photographs with Asian men in business suits who Inner City Press did not then recognize -- but now does.

 UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when Inner City Press asked on October 13 about what it had seen, said perhaps Inner City Press had "condoned" it. Video here. But Inner City Press quit UNCA afterfinding conflicts of interest in it, and being "ordered" to not report on this.  From the October 13 transcript:

Inner City Press: I want to ask inevitably about the revelations about Mr. [John] Ashe and Frank Lorenzo and others.  And just as you… as the lead Spokesman, a person that travels around with the Secretary-General, how… what would you say to the photos that exist of the Secretary-General with David Ng, who was since indicted, and Frank Lorenzo and, particularly, in instances where it appears that groups that receive contributions from the two and then put them in a room to have photographs with the Secretary-General?  Is this something that… how does the Secretary-General view this in retrospect, and what's going to be done in the future?

Spokesman:  First of all, a photo of the Secretary-General with any individual should in no way be interpreted as a sponsorship or agreement.  It's just a photo.  The Secretary-General is very much a public figure, attends a lot of public events where there are a lot of people.  Sometimes people come up to him and ask to have their photo taken.  And it's done within the… within, obviously, the security constraints that need to be had.  I think whether it's the Secretary-General of the United Nations or anyone in leadership position, you will find when you travel with them that a lot of people want to have their photo taken with them.  Inasmuch as that is… we try to control that, sometimes it's difficult to do so.  I think the Secretary-General is as shocked as anyone in this building at the charges that were levelled at these two individuals.  And he's very disappointed at the accusations towards the United Nations.

Inner City Press:  obviously, to business interests having an actual kind of formal handshaking one, I guess I'll just say that that is worth something to them.  That's why they…

Spokesman:  I'm not… I'm not debating that point… [cross talk]  I'm just saying that having a picture of the Secretary-General with any individual should in no way be seen as a sponsorship, approval, making them BFF's or anything.

Inner City Press:  I guess I just want to be more specific.  If an event… and there's one that actually, as it turns out, I witnessed in Cipriani.  If the Secretary-General enters a large space and is then taken to a smaller space for such photographs, what's the basis for that, as opposed to people with selfies?  I mean, I understand what you're saying…

Spokesman:  I think, you know, if you were there, then maybe you condoned the event as well.  The issue is the Secretary-General attends a lot of events.  Sometimes there is a VIP reception.  None of it should be construed as anything as the Secretary-General having his picture taken with anyone.

Inner City Press: it's been a number of days now; I'm assuming that, if not you, OLA [Office of Legal Affairs], someone has read through this long FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] affidavit.  And I want to just ask you again, because in it, it says that, after the… the… the official UN document about the Macau centre was procured, there was a separate payment to Mr. Ashe, separate communications with a UN official number one, who reissued the document as a… amended… revised for technical reasons, with the name of the company in it.  And it seems to me, even before you waiting for an OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] investigation, the scope of which wouldn't touch that, who in the UN is actually… how does it work, first of all?  Who… which part of the UN amends documents after they're released?  Is it DGACM [Department for General Assembly and Conference Management]…?

Spokesman:  Listen, I'm not going to talk about the specifics of the case.  But it is clear that if the President of one of the legislative bodies in this Organization which controls the agenda, or a sponsoring country for resolution, asks the Secretary-General to amend a text, we serve as the Secretariat.  It's not… it's… it doesn't entail sponsoring of what's inside that text. 

  While Inner City Press' answer to the spokesman's "if you were there, then maybe you condoned the event as well," is that Inner City Press quit UNCA
 after finding conflicts of interest in it, and being "ordered" to not report on this, we'll have more on this.


On October 13, Inner City Press asked this follow up:

Inner City Press: I just want to directly ask you about the idea that it's sort of people struggling to get photos with the UN officials.  There was a… there was a peacekeeping day concert that was… for which solicitation of… you know, sponsorship was sought by a group called World Harmony Alliance, and it had nothing… the group has nothing to do with peacekeeping, but they paid for day.  They… they… in fact, the funder complained that he didn't get the promised photograph with Ban Ki-moon, but I wonder, what was… what's the UN's understanding when they take outside financial sponsorship for such a day?  I mean, former UN official [Ibrahim] Gambari was seen with the same group taking photographs on the fourth floor in the Millennium Hotel.  What's it all about?  What’s happening?

Spokesman:  What former officials do in hotels is really not of my purview.

Inner City Press:  Sure.  What about UN peacekeeping?

Spokesman:  I would take a look at that actual programme, but I would expect every part of the UN to do due diligence when it partners with an outside organization.  And just…  I'll leave it at that.

   On October 12, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: in light of these charges against John Ashe, Frank Lorenzo, and others, it's emerging that the Secretary-General, if not met, had staged photo opportunities with a number of the individuals charged.  And I wanted to know, in looking at this, do you have some kind of a comment on how these occurred, particularly in instances where they may have been arranged by a third party, been arranged by an organization that invited Ban Ki-moon and then received funds from South-South News or others and then put the two together on photograph?  Was that appropriate?  And what would be your response to… to OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] looking at that or otherwise?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, regarding that, as you're aware, the Office of Internal Oversight Services will do an audit.  They've been requested to do that, and so we'll be able to see whether there was any effect from either the relationship with these various groups, these two groups, the Sun Kian Ip Group and the Global Sustainability Foundation, and any of the monies received.  So, we'll await what they have to say about any of this.

Inner City Press:  But, given that Mr. Frank Lorenzo has been charged and he's now out on $2 million bail, he was head of South-South News, which spread $12 million, according to the documents, throughout the UN system.  So, what was, how, what was the criteria used to choose these two NGOs and not either South-South News or International Organization for South-South Cooperation or South South Steering Committee on Sustainable Development?  It seems like it's a very limited inquiry and…

Deputy Spokesman:  It's not really an inquiry.  It's an audit, and this is initial step.  If OIOS feels like there is something… there's a direction which they need to go as a result of these initial results, they're certainly free to do that, but we needed to get the ball rolling and have an initial step forward so that we can look into what exactly is the impact of the monies and the relationship with these groups.


John Ashe at UNCA with former president, after and before Pioli
click photo for source / credit

  Back in December 2011, shepherding Ban for this (compensated) photo op with dubious businessmen was Giampaolo Pioli, then as now the president of UNCA. South South News interviewed Pioli that night, bragging of the UNCA award it got / paid for, screenshot from video here.

    (For context it must be noted too that Pioli rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona then granted Kohona's request as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to screen his government's war crimes denial film “Lies Agreed To” in the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium: this precipitated Inner City Press quitting UNCA, in full disclosure.)

   How can UNCA be given first questions to ask about a scandal involving South South News, from which UNCA took more then to which it gave an award? And what are the other implications?

  (In terms of Mr. Ng's desire for photo ops, Inner City Press is informed that he separately wanted a photo with US President Obama, and paid six figures to a middleman - who disappeared with the money. UNCA on the other hand, one wag noted, delivered Ban Ki-moon for photos at Cipriani's.)

  UNCA, it should be noted, has been and is open to business interested beyond Mr. Ng and South South News. Another UNCA awards ceremony was sponsored by a company called “Acoona;” the Italian oil company ENI pays the group money.

But UNCA's South South News connection, given what has been disclosed and charged this week, should at a minimum and as a first step disqualify UNCA from first questions from the UN, and from the continuation of its role.

 Consider: if it gave rise to criminal charges that South South News paid Ashe to get a GA document for Ng to show off in Macau, who about South South News paying UNCA, and UNCA delivering Ban for a photo op with Ng, that Ng could use for related purposes? We'll have more on this.

Wider, and going forward in this series, limiting UN investigation to OIOS - whose director of investigations Stefanovic has resigned, Inner City Press hereby exclusively reported on October 9 - looking at only two NGOs is laughable. The scandal is expanding: there is a pattern here, pattern and practice. Watch this site.