ICP
Asks UN of
UNCA Taking
Money from
South South
News,
Delivering Ban
for Photo Op
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 12 --
As the scandal
unveiled in
the corruption
charges
against former
UN General
Assembly
President John
Ashe, Francis
Lorenzo of
South South
News and
others
continues to
expand, the
compromised
position of
the UN
Correspondents
Association
has come to
the fore.
While UNCA
does not
represent all
journalists
accredited to
cover the UN
-- Inner City
Press for
example quit
the group in
2012 with
another
Executive
Committee
member and
co-founded the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
-- the UN
gives it a
privileged
position, a
large
clubhouse on
the third
floor of the
UN and,
automatically,
the first
question at
press
conferences.
But is
that
appropriate,
given that
UNCA received
money from
South South
News, “NGO 1”
in the
filing
against Ashe?
Not only did
UNCA receive
money from
South South
News: it gave
the group an
“UNCA award”
at a ceremony
at the
high-ceilinged
Cipriani's
restaurant on
December 15,
2011.
Inner
City Press,
which did not
quit UNCA in
fully ripened
disgust in
2012, was
present in
December 2011
and witnessed,
when Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon came
into
Cipriani's,
him being
shepherded
into a side
room for
photographs
with Asian men
in business
suits who
Inner City
Press did not
then recognize
-- but now
does.
On October 12,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq, video here, transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: in
light of these
charges
against John
Ashe, Frank
Lorenzo, and
others, it's
emerging that
the
Secretary-General,
if not met,
had staged
photo
opportunities
with a number
of the
individuals
charged.
And I wanted
to know, in
looking at
this, do you
have some kind
of a comment
on how these
occurred,
particularly
in instances
where they may
have been
arranged by a
third party,
been arranged
by an
organization
that invited
Ban Ki-moon
and then
received funds
from
South-South
News or others
and then put
the two
together on
photograph?
Was that
appropriate?
And what would
be your
response to…
to OIOS
[Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services]
looking at
that or
otherwise?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Well,
regarding
that, as
you're aware,
the Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services will
do an
audit.
They've been
requested to
do that, and
so we'll be
able to see
whether there
was any effect
from either
the
relationship
with these
various
groups, these
two groups,
the Sun Kian
Ip Group and
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation,
and any of the
monies
received.
So, we'll
await what
they have to
say about any
of this.
Inner City
Press:
But, given
that Mr. Frank
Lorenzo has
been charged
and he's now
out on $2
million bail,
he was head of
South-South
News, which
spread $12
million,
according to
the documents,
throughout the
UN
system.
So, what was,
how, what was
the criteria
used to choose
these two NGOs
and not either
South-South
News or
International
Organization
for
South-South
Cooperation or
South South
Steering
Committee on
Sustainable
Development?
It seems like
it's a very
limited
inquiry and…
Deputy
Spokesman:
It's not
really an
inquiry.
It's an audit,
and this is
initial
step. If
OIOS feels
like there is
something…
there's a
direction
which they
need to go as
a result of
these initial
results,
they're
certainly free
to do that,
but we needed
to get the
ball rolling
and have an
initial step
forward so
that we can
look into what
exactly is the
impact of the
monies and the
relationship
with these
groups.
Back in
December 2011,
shepherding
Ban for this
(compensated)
photo op with
dubious
businessmen
was Giampaolo
Pioli, then as
now the
president of
UNCA. South
South News
interviewed
Pioli that
night,
bragging of
the UNCA award
it got / paid
for,
screenshot
from video
here.
Photo:
President of
UNCA, on SSN
before giving
them award.
How much has
UNCA gotten
from South
South? pic.twitter.com/9LnoW19IPM
(For context
it must be
noted too that
Pioli rented
one of his
Manhattan
apartments to
Palitha Kohona
then granted
Kohona's
request as Sri
Lanka's
Ambassador to
screen his
government's
war crimes
denial film
“Lies Agreed
To” in the
UN's Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
Auditorium:
this
precipitated
Inner City
Press quitting
UNCA, in full
disclosure.)
How can UNCA
be given first
questions to
ask about a
scandal
involving
South South
News, from
which UNCA
took more then
to which it
gave an award?
And what are
the other
implications?
(In
terms of Mr.
Ng's desire
for photo ops,
Inner City
Press is
informed that
he separately
wanted a photo
with US
President
Obama, and
paid six
figures to a
middleman -
who
disappeared
with the
money. UNCA on
the other
hand, one wag
noted,
delivered Ban
Ki-moon for
photos at
Cipriani's.)
UNCA,
it should be
noted, has
been and is
open to
business
interested
beyond Mr. Ng
and South
South News.
Another UNCA
awards
ceremony was
sponsored by a
company called
“Acoona;” the
Italian oil
company ENI
pays the group
money.
But UNCA's
South South
News
connection,
given what has
been disclosed
and charged
this week,
should at a
minimum and as
a first step
disqualify
UNCA from
first
questions from
the UN, and
from the
continuation
of its role.
Consider:
if it gave
rise to
criminal
charges that
South South
News paid Ashe
to get a GA
document for
Ng to show off
in Macau, who
about South
South News
paying UNCA,
and UNCA
delivering Ban
for a photo op
with Ng, that
Ng could use
for related
purposes?
We'll have
more on this.
Wider, and
going forward
in this
series,
limiting UN
investigation
to OIOS -
whose director
of
investigations
Stefanovic has
resigned,
Inner City
Press hereby
exclusively
reported on
October 9 -
looking at
only two NGOs
is laughable.
The scandal is
expanding:
there is a
pattern here,
pattern and
practice.
Watch this
site. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
