By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Follow Up to
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 30 --
After the
position on UN
Controller was
left empty for
months, on
October 28
Inner City Press
exclusively
reported
that
internally the
UN has
selected a new
one, joint US
- Uruguayan citizen
Bettina
Bartsiotas.
Inner City
Press noted a
US cable
published by
Wikileaks
showing the US
pushing to get
Bartsiotas a
similar
financial job
at the
International
Atomic Energy
Agency.
On
October 29,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN to confirm:
Inner
City Press:
I wanted to
ask the about
the
Comptroller
position here
in the UN...
Some months
ago, the
former
Comptroller
moved to UNDP
as Associate
Administrator.
Spokesman:
It's not a
matter, it's a
fact. It
was announced.
Inner City
Press:
Who's been
running it
since
then?
And can you
confirm that
Bettina
Bartsiotas is
going to be
named the new
Comptroller
this week?
Spokesman:
There has been
an acting
Comptroller,
and senior
appointments
are official
once — if I
may be so bold
— once I
announce them
from this
podium.
So we can play
around with
the name game
for quite some
time.
Inner City
Press:
But given this
number of
months without
a Comptroller…
Spokesman:
There's an
acting
Comptroller,
so I think
that the
finances
treasury of
the UN remains
in safe hands
under the
supervision of
Mr. Takasu as
is the Head of
the Department
of
Management.
Well, on October
30 the UN did
confirm. Inner
City Press
asked
Spokesman
Dujarric about
the Wikileaked
memo, and if
the US played
any role in the
selection at
the UN.
Dujarric said
the selection
was complete.
What about George
Barsiotas being on
the UN's Joint
Inspection
Unit? Click
here. Any
issues? The UN
issues
statements and
moves on.
Trying
to follow the
money at the
UN is not
easy, often
intentionally
so. Press
questions
for example
about
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
travel, posed
to the head of
the Department
of Management
Yukio Takasu
were answered
with reference
to unnamed
Trust Funds
which report
on a two year
lag. A
follow up
question to
Ban's Office
of the
Spokesperson did not garner
any better
response.
The
Assistant
Secretary
General
position of UN
Controller,
then, under
the
supervision of
former
Japanese
Ambassador to
the UN Takasu
is not
unimportant.
Back in May
2014
then-Controller
Maria Eugenia
Casar was
picked to
become
Associate
Administrator
of the United
Nations
Development
Program.
Now
Inner City
Press is
exclusively
informed by
well-placed
sources that a
new Controller
has been
picked but not
yet announced.
Amid
complaints by
some
delegations
that the US
already has
too many top
positions,
from the
Department of
Political
Affairs of
Jeffrey
Feltman to Ebola
logistics czar
Tony Banbury
and Capital
Master Plan
master-builder
Michael
Adlerstein,
the sources
tell Inner
City Press the
new UN
Controller
will be joint
US - Uruguay
citizen Bettina
Bartsiotas.
Bettina
Bartsiotas,
Inner City
Press'
research
finds, is an
active
American, for
example making
$1000 in
public
campaign
contributions
and even
showing up in
a classified
US cable
obtained and
released by
Wikileaks,
regarding the
International
Atomic Energy
Agency:
“This
position
should be
pursued
aggressively
when it opens
up in the
future. Dual
Uruguay/U.S.
national
Bettina
Bartsiotas,
currently a
Section Head
in this
office, has a
good
relationship
with the
Mission and
may seek this
position in
the future.”
So the
US was pushing
Bartsiotas for
a financial
position in
the IAEA then,
and presumably
now, for the
UN Controller
position.
While the UN
refuses to
make public
its “short
lists” for
such
recruitments,
the sources
exclusively
tell Inner
City Press of
the current UN
Treasurer,
from Mexico,
as well as a
Belgian
official being
interviewed.
But, they say,
“American
Bettina
Bartsiotas
came out on
top.”
As
Inner City
Press
previously
reported back
in September,
another
American pick
by Ban
Ki-moon, Carol
Boykin for the
investment
chief in the
UN pension
fund, drew
significant
push-back due
to Boykin's
past record
and litigation
in Maryland.
And this one?
Then, the new
Free
UN Coalition
for Access renewed
the press
for a Freedom
of Information
Act at the UN.
Will this push
things closer?
Watch this
site.
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