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Does UNRWA Break (Law) with Commercial
Bank of Syria, Ging Answers for Ban
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, April 3 -- When
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was on Capitol Hill on March 11, he
was asked
if the UN Relief and Works Agency has accounts with the Commercial Bank
of
Syria, which is on US anti-money laundering lists. Inner City Press
asked Ban's
head of Peacekeeping, Alain Le Roy, to confirm that the issue arose in
Ban's
meeting with the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It was asked, Le Roy
confirmed, and Ban said he would look into it. Inner
City Press asked Ban's Deputy
Spokesperson about it again on March 17, and she read out a prepared
answer:
UNRWA
maintains its primary banking relationships -– and all donor
contributions –-
with reputable international banks, including JPMorgan Chase, BNP
Paribas and
Bank Austria Vienna. The Agency
distributes on a weekly basis to field offices operationally required
funds to
banks in the relevant area of operations.
In this context, UNRWA uses the Arab Bank for
transactions in the West
Bank and the Commercial Bank of Syria, which until recently held a
State
monopoly on all banking operations in Syria and remains the only bank
to
provide the full extent of services throughout the country, for local
transactions, such as the payment of staff salary.
Thus, the UN said it was
still
using Commercial Bank of Syria, and said it was the only bank it could
use.
On April 3, UNRWA's chief of Gaza operations John
Ging held a press
conference in New York. On this, Inner City Press asked if it is
appropriate
for UNRWA to be using a bank on US anti-money laundering lists. Ging
answered
that the question was "above his pay grade," but went on to say that
UNRWA would never do anything illegal, and that the issue "is
established" with the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury. Video here,
from Minute 1:06:52.
Commercial Bank of Syria, UNRWA accounts being
closed not shown
From this, most concluded that the allegations about
CBS were wrong,
that dealing with it was legal and would continue. But in fact, Ging
the
previous day in Washington had said that
"UNRWA
has stopped using the Commercial Bank of Syria for financial
transactions,
which the United States says has been used by terrorists to transfer
funds. He
said the agency used the institution because it had a "massive network
of
offices," but has conferred with U.S. State and Treasury department
officials in recent weeks and is now looking for a different bank."
So on this the question is, is it that UNRWA would
never do anything
illegal, or would stop once it was spotlighted, but after the UN
reflexively
defended the practice?
Footnote:
Ging stayed after
Friday's briefing and answered more questions. Inner City Press asked
about
reports that Fatah is blocking the release of Gaza patients needing
treatment
outside the Strip. Ging to his credit agreed that this was happening,
and said
UNRWA is trying to solve the problem by accompanying patients. He also
committed to provide information about UNRWA's request for cash to get
into the
Gaza strip, to pay a long list of pending bill that can apparently only
be paid
in cash. The information will be reviewed and reported upon receipt.
Click here
for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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