In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY Post

UN GATE / SDNY, Dec 12– The corruption of the UN and some those serving as Ambassadors there, all with impunity, was revealed again on December 12 when a former Ambassador of Morocco to the UN under Omar Hilale, ABDESLAM JAIDI, his now ex-wife, MARIA LUISA ESTRELLA JAIDI and ESTRELLA’s brother, RAMON SINGSON ESTRELLA were charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York with conspiring to defraud the US, to make materially false statements, to commit visa fraud, and to induce aliens to illegally enter, come to, and remain in the US.

  The charges stem from a scheme to bring domestic workers into the United States under fraudulently obtained diplomatic visas, only to then be exploited by JAIDI and ESTRELLA once they arrived. Both JAIDI and SINGSON remain at large.  As alleged in the Indictment unsealed in White Plains federal court - but not, as of 5 pm, on PACER:

From approximately 2006 through 2019, JAIDI, ESTRELLA, and SINGSON conspired to fraudulently procure visas for at least 10 foreign domestic workers (collectively, the “Domestic Workers”), who were from the Philippines and Morocco, among other countries.  At various times relevant to the Indictment, JAIDI was a diplomatic agent accredited to the Moroccan Mission with the rank of ambassador.  From approximately 1980 through approximately 2016, JAIDI and ESTRELLA were married.                 

In order to fraudulently obtain visas for the Domestic Workers, JAIDI and ESTRELLA caused the Domestic Workers to submit visa applications containing false statements and to submit fraudulent employment contracts in support of those visa applications.  SINGSON – who resides in the Philippines – helped recruit several of the Domestic Workers in the Philippines to work for JAIDI and ESTRELLA in the United States and instructed the Domestic Workers to make false statements in their visa applications and to State Department officials.                  

In particular, JAIDI, ESTRELLA, and SINGSON caused a number of the Domestic Workers to falsely state in their visa applications that they would be employed as administrative staff at the Moroccan Mission or at the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Morocco in Manhattan.  In addition, they caused some of the Domestic Workers to submit fraudulent employment contracts to the State Department in support of their visa applications.  The fraudulent employment contracts overstated the Domestic Workers’ salaries, understated their hours, and, in many cases, falsely guaranteed benefits, including, among others, sick leave, dental insurance, and medical insurance.                 

Once the Domestic Workers arrived in the United States, JAIDI and ESTRELLA employed the workers as their personal drivers, domestic helpers, farmhands, and assistants at their residence in Bronxville, New York and their farm in Ancramdale, New York.  JAIDI and ESTRELLA paid the Domestic Workers less than the minimum salary required by law and regularly compelled them to work far in excess of 40 hours per week.  In addition, JAIDI and ESTRELLA generally denied the Domestic Workers the benefits set forth in their employment contracts, compelled the Domestic Workers to work seven days a week, and required the Domestic Workers to surrender their passports.

When the International Monetary Fund issued a statement about Gabon on 19 December 2018 it was to disbursed $99 million, what some saw as an unmerited holiday present for Ali Bongo.

  And now the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, has dissed even his own country's lobbying in order to vacation for the second time in three months at "his" Pointe-Denis, Gabon mansion. Sounds like Fat Tony Guterres of the UN.

Now after Inner City Press asked about Gabon as one of dozens of other questions that the UN left unanswered, despite the promise of UNSG Antonio Guterres' UN to UNSR David Kaye, and of Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, Ali Bongo is preparing the next generation, with Guterres' collusion: The eldest son of Gabonese president Ali Bongo Ondimba, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, has been handed a political appointment at the presidency according to reports.  He was appointed “coordinator of presidential affairs” on Thursday with the main mandate “to assist the President of the Republic in the conduct of all affairs of the State.”  The official announcement was made by the spokesman of the government, Edgard Anicet Mboumbou Miyakou, at the end of a cabinet meeting.    ADVERTISING  inRead invented by Teads The position of general coordinator of presidential affairs, which Noureddin Bongo, now holds was specially created at the end of the cabinet meeting.  Its mission according to the government is to: “assist the President of the Republic in the conduct of all affairs of the State and ensures the strict application of decisions.”  Noureddin Bongo will therefore be a right hand man to his father Ali Bongo, who came to power in 2009 after his father, Omar Bongo, who led the country for 42 years. Malika Bongo Ondimba Dossou, the eldest daughter of Ali Bongo wrote in a Facebook post that she had presidential ambitions.  “I am mayor for two years now and I do not want to stop because I have huge ambitions for Gabon. Why not a woman President of the Republic of Gabon in 2022?’‘ she asked rhetorically. Malika, already into local politics was at the time mayor of the town of Akanda.  Political opponents have routinely accused the Bongo family of wanting to turn the presidency into an ‘inheritance.’  Malika was educated in the United States, and also in France, where she studied international relations at the University of Sorbonne in Paris. She has worked with UNESCO and the UN in Geneva before returning to Gabon in 2009. She is married to Steve Dossou.

  Will it work? From Guterres' actions on Cameroon, it is known which side he's on: the dictators. On January 7 Inner City Press asked, at 9 am: "January 7-1: On Gabon, what is the SG's comment and action on that "elements of the Republican Guard took control of the state-owned Radio Gabon. A message was then broadcast around 6:30 local time on the airwaves, announcing that a "National Council of Restoration" was set up in the absence of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, in order "to save democracy, preserve the integrity of the national territory and national cohesion'"?  And at back then at 2:39 pm lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq replied to Inner City Press, "Regarding your first question: As a principle, the Secretary-General has always stood against unconstitutional changes of power, especially by force, and in that light, he condemns the attempted coup that took place this morning in Gabon.     The Secretary-General takes note that calm appears to have returned in Libreville and calls on all actors to adhere to constitutional means.     The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), François Louncény Fall, based in Libreville, is monitoring events closely and stands ready to provide his good offices if and as required."

  Inner City Press published the full answer - but since then, going even further into corruption, Dujarric and Haq and Guterres and Melissa Fleming won't answer any Inner City Press question. This is corrupt.

***

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Search innercitypress.com  Search WWW (censored?)

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

 Copyright 2006-2019 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com for