Host
Country Bank
"Runaround"
Draw Syria,
G77 Complaint,
Ban(k) of
America?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 24 --
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Bashar
Ja'afari on
Thursday told
Inner City
Press
exclusively
that after the
US told his
government,
which had its
New York bank
account shut
down, to move
its money
south to
Washington
First Bank,
that too got
shut down.
The
US as Host
Country to the
United Nations
has a legal
duty to ensure
that all
member states
can have bank
accounts, as
Inner City
Press reported
based
on the last
closed door
meeting of the
UN's Host
County
Committee.
But
when the US
representative
in the Budget
Committee on
Thursday --
not its
Ambassador for
Management --
responded to
the comments
of Algeria
from the Group
of 77, Syria,
Singapore and
others about
this account
"runaround,"
there was no
mention of the
bank issue.
Rather
the argument
was that while
the US is
technically
behind on its
payments to
the UN, this
is due to
conflicting
fiscal
calendars and
"other
issues."
There
was
criticism of
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
administration
for
not making
sure that the
Host Country
Agreement is
complied with.
His
Controller
responded that
she had gotten
"good news,
only last
night."
She told
countries to
expect this
news in two
weeks,
then when
speaking of a
country barred
from voting at
the UN because
it does not
have a bank
account to pay
its dues from,
said it might
be more than a
month.
After
the Budget
Committee
session, Inner
City Press
observed
Ambassador
Ja'afari
seeking to
speak with the
new chief of
Ban's
Department of
Management,
former
Japanese
Ambassador
Yukio Takasu
(whose
appointment
Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported well
in advance of
its formal
announcement.)
"The
money is
there,"
Ja'afari said
as Takasu
appeared to
back away.
Takasu
conferred
openly with a
Japanese
diplomat just
outside the
Committee
door; it is
too early in
his tenure to
know how
common this
will be.
Meanwhile
Ban
Ki-moon has
put the
chairman of
Bank of
America on his
high level
group on
sustainable
energy --
despite Bank
of America
being
protested by
Occupy Wall
Street and
others for
being the
number one
funder of
mountain top
removal coal
mining. Why
can't Ban or
his
self-funded
bridge to the
corporate
world Bob Orr
get their bank
friends to let
UN member
states open
accounts?
Footnote:
An
hour later,
twenty blocks
north at the
Council on
Foreign
Relations, the
President of
the Federal
Reserve Bank
of New York
William Dudley
was scheduled
to give a
speech and
take
questions.
Inner City
Press went,
but from the
overflow run
to which the
media
was confined
was not able
to ask any
questions,
whether about
bank
accounts for
UN member
states or why
it is
appropriate
for JPMorgan
Chase CEO to
be on the
Federal
Reserve Bank
of NY board of
directors,
given that the
FRBNY directly
regulated
JPMC, which
has recently
gambled and
lost $3
billion and
counting?
This
last
question,
Inner City
Press
submitted
twice by
email, but it
was not
posed. Then
this arrived
from CFR's
press officer,
subject of
interim
appreciation:
"Sincere
apologies that
you were
unable to ask
this question
. I tried to
reserve a
space for you
in the room,
unfortunately
we were at
capacity. I
will pass this
question along
to President
Dudley’s media
coordinator to
see if he will
respond to
your
question."
Watch
this site.
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