In
1st UN Bribery Case, SSN
Lorenzo Is "Agent of UN,"
Guterres Spox No Comments ICP,
Bribes
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
May 3 – In the UN bribery case
against Macau-based
businessman Ng Lap Seng,
former South South News chief
and diplomat Francis Lorenzo
is now described in a
Superseding Information made
public on May 2 as an "agent"
of the UN, making it more
difficult for the UN to dodge,
despite it attempts to hinder
Press coverage of the
connections. Meanwhile
defendant Ng Lap Seng is
trying to keep out of the
upcoming trial his financial
involvement with relatives of
Jesse Jackson Jr (which again
calls into question how the UN
Department of Public
Information didn't do even
Google "due diligence," then
evicted and restricts Inner
City Press which asked DPI).
Ng's filing quotes the
government that "Mr. Ng made a
loan to a UNOSSC employee who
sought funding from Mr. Ng in
order to pursue graduate
studies." What has the UN done
about any of this, beyond
evicting and restricting the
Press which is covering the
story? On May 3, Inner City
Press asked UN holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
who not only didn't answer but
also rebuffed a question about
the UN in the DR Congo, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: John Ashe
case and DRC [Democratic
Republic of the Congo[.
There are two new filings in
the John Ashe case, and I
wanted to ask you about, in
particular, one of them is a
superseding indictment of
Francis Lorenzo, and it
describes him in paragraph 3
as an agent of an
organization, to wit, the UN
did corruptly solicit and
demand, etcetera. But I
guess what I’m wondering is,
now, if the US Attorney is
describing Mr. Francis Lorenzo
as an agent of the UN, does
this change the way the UN is
looking at the case?
Spokesman: We’re looking
at the case. I’m not
aware that Mr. Lorenzo is an
agent of the UN. But,
again, we’re looking at the
case. And, when we have
something more to say, we’ll
let you know.
Inner City Press: And another
filing at the same time says
that… that Ng Lap Seng
provided money to and
educational loans to a staff
member of the Office of
South-South Cooperation.
That’s not something I ever
saw…
Spokesman: Okay.
I… I… we have… obviously,
we’re following the
case. I don’t have
anything to say while the
proceedings are ongoing.
Thank you. I’m going to
get Mr. Takasu.
Lorenzo
has now expanded his guilty
plea to admit paying bribes to
now deceased President of the
UN General Assembly John Ashe,
and soliciting bribes from Ng.
Lorenzo will testify against
Ng, whose motion to dismiss
the case has been denied. But
the UN is still in denial. On
April 28 Inner City Press
asked the UN's holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Francis
Lorenzo, the former head of
South-South News and former
Deputy Permanent
Representative of the
Dominican Republic to the UN
has expanded his guilty plea
to a clear and clean admission
of having bribed former PGA
[President of the General
Assembly], may he rest in
peace, John Ashe, and he's
going to testify against Ng
Lap Seng. It gives rise…
this now seems to be
previously just tax
charges. Now he's
saying, on the record… taking
responsibility, saying he knew
it was wrong at the time that
he did it. So, my
question is: As the
case… as the case gets more
pointedly in terms of what
took place inside the United
Nations walls… and yesterday I
saw the former DGACM
[Department of General
Assembly and Conference
Management] individual, now
retired, who I believe… it
seems from the audit is the
one that changed the
document. What is the
ramification? Was
anything ever done for that
changed document, and what is
exactly OLA [Office of Legal
Affairs] doing now that
there's admission not just of
tax charges or evasion, of
bribery…?
Spokesman: First of all,
the alleged bribery you're
referring to does not involve
a staff member of the
UN. There were audits
done, and the situation was
looked at very carefully in
the past two years, if my
memory is correct. We
continue, obviously, to follow
the developments in the case,
and if we need to act upon
anything that is revealed by
the time the case is done, we
shall do so.
Inner
City
Press: But,
I guess the goal of the
bribery was to obtain a UN
document saying that Macau
Conference Center was needed,
and that document was obtained
from DGACM. So, are you
saying that somehow the
actual… the ultimate act that
they wanted was done without
any…?
Spokesman: That's not
what I'm saying.
Inner City Press: But, what
was done? I saw the guy
walking around. Was
there any repercussion of any
individual named in the audit?
Spokesman: As I said, as
more information comes to
light, we'll act upon it.
Right. The
corruption into which the UN
sank during the tenure of
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,
whose head of the Department
of Public Information Cristina
Gallach did no due diligence
as Ng bought illegal events in
the UN and even the UN's
slavery memorial, and DPI's
censorship of and threats
against the Press which
reports on the Ng and South
South News case has yet to be
addressed or even stopped.
This has been raised to the
top of the Secretariat. Ng's
associate Jeff Yin has also
pleaded guilty to working to
violate UN tax laws with South
South News. The UN Department
of Public Information evicted
and still restricts Inner City
Press for seeking to cover UN
links to South South News;
this month DPI has refused to
explain the basis. On April 12
when Inner City Press about
the UN's holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about the
guilty plea, he said SSN is
"no longer" at the UN, as if
that resolved it. It doesn't,
and that has been raised. Video here; from the UN
transcript: Inner City
Press: question about this Ng
Lap Seng, previously John
Ashe, case. There’s been
now a guilty plea by John
Ashe’s lone remaining
co-defendant, Jeffrey
Yin. And in his guilty
plea, he states that
South-South News intentionally
paid him in cash in order to
evade US tax laws.
That’s what he’s pled guilty
to. Given the supposed inquiry
by the UN, what’s the
response? It’s not a
matter of waiting until the
end of the case. This is
a…
Spokesman: My
understanding is South-South
News is no longer accredited
as a news organization to the
UN.
Under
Dujarric, South South News
content was included in UN TV
webcast and archives; Dujarric
threw Inner City Press out of
the UN Press Briefing Room for
seeking to cover South South
News payees in the UN, and
worked on the UN misleading
memo to the US Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, Paragraph
9 and 10, here.
Ng is set
for trial, but now an
adjournment has been granted to
May. The letter motion by Ng Lap
Seng's lawyers cites a need to
review "many thousands of pages
of banking records, emails and
other documents related to Jeff
Yin, Mr.
Ng, Vivian Wang, SKI, and SSN,
among others. We are still
awaiting production of
voluminous
documents, including information
contained in DVDs and CDs seized
from Vivian Wang’s
residence, tax information for a
number of alleged
co-conspirators, South South
News
documents, phone records, and
additional Ashe emails." So is
the UN even checking out these
new records, to reform itself?
It seems not. On April 7 Inner
City Press asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript
here
***
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