Amid
Lagarde
& DSK Scandals, IMF Won't Answer on Belarus or Jamaica
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 9 -- Without a managing director, without transparency
and seemingly without regard to human rights, the International
Monetary Fund is negotiating with Belarus about a loan larger than
the $3 billion the Russians lent, conditioned on privatization to
Russian firms.
During
the IMF's
bi-weekly briefing on June 9, Inner City Press submitted this
question:
“On
Belarus, what is the IMF's thinking after Russia cut electrical
supply this week, after crackdown on online protests and long
sentences to political opponents, and what does the IMF say that to
require privatization would be serving Russian buyers of Belarus
assets?”
IMF
spokesperson
Caroline Atkinson, facing in-person questions about Dominique Strauss
Kahn, took three online questions -- about Pakistan, Argentina and
Latvia -- but not this Inner City Press question about Belarus (nor
another one, about Jamaica).
After
not
acknowledging the timely submitted questions during the briefing,
afterward Inner City Press received this email from the IMF about
Belarus:
Subject:
Your
question on Belarus
From: [ ] @imf.org
Date: Thu, Jun 9,
2011 at 10:43 AM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Matthew,
With
regard to your question today on Belarus. As you probably know,
a previously scheduled IMF mission is currently in Minsk (the dates
are June 1-13) to conduct post-program monitoring. The standing
policy has been that we don’t comment on specific country matters
while missions are in the field and discussions are in progress. We
will update the press on the mission’s outcome when it concludes.
The
purpose
of this mission is to discuss policies that would restore
economic stability and put the economy on the path of strong and
sustainable growth. The mission will use the opportunity to exchange
views with the authorities on possible next steps in response to
their request for the Fund-supported program.
Regards,
[
] IMF Press Office
It's
been
reported that IMF Head of the mission Chris Jarvis has met Deputy
Prime Minister Sergey Rumas. Inner City Press replied with a request
to be informed of any IMF press conference call about any
announcement with Belarus, but the IMF press person who had replied
was listed as out of the office.
DSK and Ms. Atkinson: "bad stuff found" not shown
On
Jamaica, the
IMF asked for more specifics, to which Inner City Press replied:
Jamaican
Finance
Secretary Wesley Hughes met with the IMF, now returns to
Jamaica for talks with trade unions, in connection with which
Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service,
Senator Arthur Williams, has spoken of the “Government’s
inability to pay the $20 billion owed this year, and has proposed an
extended payment period, to protect the gains made in the economy and
to preserve its agreement with the IMF.”
So
1)
does the IMF dispute that the Jamaican gov't can't pay, must
extend the payment period “to preserve its agreement with the IMF”?
Separately,
2)
what did the IMF tell Finance Secretary Hughes about this?
After
not taking
this question during the briefing, then asking two rounds of counter
questions about it, the IMF finally replied:
Subject:
RE:
FW: Question Received (6/9/2011 10:10:02 AM)
From: [ ]
@imf.org
Date: Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 1:14 PM
To: matthew.lee [at]
innercitypress.com
Matthew,
We
are not going to make any comment on ongoing negotiations between
the administration and the unions. I would refer your questions to
the Jamaican authorities.
The
government’s
commitments related to the program are outlined in the
documents of the second and third reviews of the stand-by
arrangement, which you can consult online in the Jamaica page [of the
IMF].
So,
after not
acknowledging the timely submitted questions during the briefing, and
even asking questions about the questions, the IMF declined to answer
either of them. Some transparency. The IMF did not even respond to
repeatedly
emailed questions about its policies on gifts. To be
continued.
* * *
IMF
Claims
Didn't
“Find Bad Stuff” on Ethics, No Answers
on LP, Severance
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
26 -- With Dominique Strauss Kahn now under townhouse
arrest in Tribeca in New York, the International
Monetary Fund on
Thursday held its first open and online press briefing since DSK's
arrest for sexual assault.
IMF
spokesperson
Caroline Atkinson began blithely about DSK's interim replacement John
Lipsky's travel.
When she
opened up for questions -- with only three
exceptions on Greece and Portugal, only from those in the briefing
room in Washington -- she was asked directly, did you check the IMF's
files before saying you were “not aware” of other complaints
against DSK?
“I am not a
lawyer,” Ms. Atkinson said, adding that it would somehow be
inappropriate for the IMF to make disclosure of previous formal
complaints against Strauss Kahn, since he is now on trial.
Likewise,
she
declined
to answer a question about the ability to withhold the
reported $250,000 severance payment to Strauss Kahn.
The
IMF
spokesperson was reduced to saying that the (American) ethics adviser
at the Fund hadn't “found any bad stuff.”
In
the past week,
Inner City Press has submitted factual questions to the IMF that the
IMF has not answered, such as on May 20:
--In
today's
UN
noon press briefing I was told to “ask the IMF” about
Dominique Strauss Kahn's UN Laissez Passer. If holding the LP is
based on being an IMF official or staffer, given Mr. Strauss Kahn's
resignation, why hasn't the LP been retrieved? What policies does the
IMF have for the LPs of persons who resign or are terminated?
--what
policies
does
the IMF have regarding the pensions and end-of-service
payments to individuals charged with, or convicted of, felonies
including those involving moral turpitude, such as sexual assault?
Has Mr. Strauss Kahn receive any payment since his resignation, or
does his resignation trigger one?
--
on
my
outstanding question about disclosures to the IMF under the
IMF's cited policy on gifts, I have asked about Mr. Strauss Kahn and
Mr. Lipksy but am now expanding the request to cover the ten top IMF
officials.
Other
reporters
in
the room on Thursday complained about not having their questions
answered, and about Executive Board members saying they'd been told
to refer all question, regardless of topic, back to the IMF Media
Department (which does not answer).
Inner
City
Press
iterated the above questions, and a pressing one on Sudan, during the
IMF's briefing on Thursday. But it seems the IMF is trying to hide
from straight forward questions.
Update:
after
publication
of the above, an answer was received on Sudan,
nothing on the DSK questions:
Matthew:
For
your
question on Sudan, you can attribute this to an IMF
spokesperson. We deplore the violence and hope for a speedy end to
the fighting. As you know, South Sudan has applied for membership,
and that process is ongoing. A mission is on the ground now in Juba
to discuss the membership process with the authorities.
* * *
After
DSK
Resignation,
Questions of Laissez Passer, Pay &
Gift Disclosures Dodged
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
20
-- With Dominique Strauss-Kahn out on bail and the
International Monetary Fund yet to answer Press questions about
Strauss-Kahn's and his interim replacement John Lipsky's required
disclosures of gifts, Inner City Press on Friday asked the UN about
Strauss-Kahn's UN travel document.
The
document was
repeatedly referred to due Strauss-Kahn's bail hearing. It's called a laissez passer,
and as UN spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed to Inner
City Press on Friday “it
is a travel document that’s issued,
indeed, by the United Nations. The UN also issues laissez-passer to
officials of the specialized agencies, including the IMF.”
But
doesn't the UN
have a duty to retrieve this travel document when its bearer resigns
from the UN system?
Spokesman
Nesirky repeatedly declined to answer,
telling Inner City Press to “ask the IMF.” So Inner City Press
did, along with questions about the gift disclosures of the IMF's top
ten officials.
With
Chinese
state
media
now saying that the top spot at the IMF should go to China,
Inner City Press' exclusive
stories about how this may impact Ban
Ki-moon's drive for a second term as UN Secretary General have
generated even more interest inside the UN.
“They really
scared,” a well placed UN source told Inner City Press on Friday
afternoon, at a concert by Chinese and US military bands in the UN
General Assembly, whose votes Ban would need for a second term.
Ban, DSK (and World Bank chief), China's play not shown
From
the
UN's
May
20
transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
at
the bail hearing that was held yesterday here in New
York, there was a lot of discussion of his laissez-passer passport. And
that it was in Washington. What happens when somebody in a
specialized agency resigns? Do they return the Laissez-Passer to the
UN? The court is somehow asking for it, but it is not clear to me if
it is still, if his UN powers are, remain in effect.
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
What
UN powers are you referring to, Matthew?
Inner
City
Press:
The
ability to go through airports with a Laissez-Passer,
to use it as a travel document. Is this now canceled, and is the UN
going to retrieve the document?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well,
I
think you’d have to ask the IMF what will happen
to the document, which is, as I understand it, at the IMF. I think
you know what the score is with a laissez-passer. It is a travel
document that’s issued, indeed, by the United Nations. The UN also
issues laissez-passer to officials of the specialized agencies,
including the IMF, and also to some other agencies under agreements
concluded with those organizations. And these laissez-passer are
modified to refer to the appropriate agreements relating to the
status of the relevant organization and its officials. I am talking
in general about the nature of laissez-passer. Anything to do with
the case you have mentioned, you need to speak to the IMF.
Inner
City
Press:
if
somebody ends their tenure before, because I am
assuming these documents have a date on it, so they would just expire
and couldn’t use them any more, but this one would still, it would
appear to be active, not…
Spokesperson
Inner
City
Press:
Well, as I said, I think I answered that already,
Matthew. As I said, Matthew, ask the IMF.
Inner
City
Press:
Okay,
I will.
Even
though
the
IMF,
while providing a partial response about Strauss Kahn's plane
ticket did not answer about the IMF gift policy and disclosures,
Inner City Press submitted this question, so far without response:
In
today's
UN
noon
press briefing I was told to “ask the IMF” about
Dominique Strauss Kahn's UN Laissez Passer.
If
holding the LP is based on being an IMF official or staffer, given
Mr. Strauss Kahn's resignation, why hasn't the LP been retrieved?
What
policies does the IMF have for the LPs of persons who resign or are
terminated?
Separately, what
policies does the IMF have regarding the pensions and end-of-service
payments to individuals charged with, or convicted of, felonies
including those involving moral turpitude, such as sexual assault?
Has
Mr. Strauss Kahn receive any payment since his resignation, or does
his resignation trigger one?
Other
questions:
On
both
Air
France
upgrade and Sofitel discount, please explain how
these related to the IMF's online policy on gifts http://www.imf.org/external/hrd/code.htm#VI
Acceptance
of
gifts,
decorations
and honors
32.
You
should
never
solicit gifts or favors in connection with your IMF
duties. Gifts that are offered should normally be declined. However,
you may accept a small gift when it would create an embarrassment to
refuse it. Under current rules, if its value is clearly less than
$100, you may keep it and need not report it. If the value of the
gift could exceed $100, you should report it, along with your
estimate of its value.
An
upgrade from business class to first class on a flight from New York
to Paris is presumptively worth more than $100. So too the Sofitel
discount.
1)
did
the
Managing
Director disclose these gifts?
2)
if
the
IMF
does not consider them gifts under the above, why not? On
what authority?
3)
please
list
all
disclosures under the policy quoted above that the
Managing Director, and Deputy Lipsky, have provided in the past 12
months.
This last has been
expanded to the IMF's top ten officials, but has still not been
responded to. Watch this site.
, 
