On Ban Ki-moon, Sordid Story Of Brother Ki-ho's Mining in Myanmar, Censorship of Press

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Series

UNITED NATIONS, December 26 -- Ban Ki-moon's brother Ban Ki-ho has done business in Myanmar through at least two companies, Inner City Press exclusively reported earlier this year.

 The UN's response has been to refuse to answer the Press' questions and to require it to have “minders” to cover most events inside the UN. On December 16 as Inner City Press reported on this and Ban, its Periscope broadcasting camera was smashed directly in front of an event honoring Ban, as he moves to run for South Korea's presidency.

 Inner City Press' first story about Ban Ki-moon was on November 3, 2016, in connection with Ki-ho's work in the United Arab Emirates with Han Seung-soo, the former South Korean prime minister who has been one of Ban's mentors.

 As Inner City Press even earlier exclusively reported, Ban has allowed Han Seung-soo to be simultaneously a UN official, the Under Secretary General for Water and Disaster Risk Reduction, and on the boards of directors of Doosan Infracore and of Standard Chartered Bank which has contracts with the UN.

Han Seung-soo, when Inner City Press asked him about it at a stakeout along with South African President Jacob Zuma, refused to answer: here, with video. Ban's spokesperson's response was to claim Inner City Press was "bullying" him, here.

   The UN refused to meaningfully answer on those conflicts of interest. On November 4, Inner City Press reported Ban Ki-ho's business in Myanmar, including that Ki-ho was on a “UN delegation” in the country and had done mining in Shan state, a war zone.

   The response to this story, tellingly, was for the South Korean Mission to the UN to write to Inner City Press requesting more information and any more internet links Inner City Press had. Inner City Press provided these to the Mission and to the UN.

  Immediately after that, one of the links was disappeared from the Internet. Inner City Press found the archived page, here. And still, no answer.

   After Inner City Press asked the UN about Ban Ki-hi having writing and signed a letter to Ban Ki-moon to join the UN Global Compact -- involved in other Ban Ki-moon scandals -- and they refused to answer that, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson when was the last time Ban Ki-moon spoke with Ban Ki-ho.

  Ban's spokesperson told Inner City Press he had “no clue.”

Ban Ki-moon has similarly denied contacts with his nephew Dennis Bahn, recently fined over $500,000 for forging documents to sell real estate in Vietnam, in connection with which he was quoted that Ban Ki-moon could get Qatar's sovereign wealth fund to buy the building.

  As Ban Ki-moon's time at the UN ran down, and he closed the UN Press Briefing Room for a Korean-only press conference on December 20, his spokespeople said that Ban Ki-ho is no longer with one of the two companies, KD Power, then used this to claim he no longer does business in Myanmar.

But Bosung Powertec still does, and the UN has refused to explain Ban Ki-ho being on a “UN delegation” in Myanmar, nor who else from the UN was on the delegation.

Meanwhile Ban Ki-moon promoted his own son in law, Siddharth Chatterjee, to the top UN job in Kenya without recusing himself. But that is another story of Ban Ki-moon's nepotism and corruption, which we will pursue. Watch this site.

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