As
Ng Lap Seng Convicted of
UN Bribery,
At UN Corruption Not Reformed
But Censored
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Video
UNITED NATIONS,
July 27 – When the UN bribery
verdict of six guilty counts
against Ng Lap Seng was delivered
by the jury late on July 27, Inner
City Press,
which has
covered the
scandal from
the beginning
and remains
restricted by
the UN for its
coverage,
rushed down to
the courthouse
and asked Ng
Lap Seng, as
he left by the
side door to
Worth Street,
what he thinks
of the UN and
those there
who took his
money and
favors, a list
well beyond
John Ashe and
Francis
Lorenzo.
Periscope
video here.
He did not
answer,
understandable.
He will be
back in court
on August 7
for arguments
on if his
house arrest
can continue.
Before Ng
left, Inner
City Press
witnessed his
lawyers
leaving. They
told the judge
they will
appeal. But
now that Ng is
guilty, will
the UN act on
those exposed
as corrupt,
and reverse
its
censorship?
Ng Lap
Seng's $3 billion UN
convention center plan had
been assisted by Meena Sur,
still working for the UN
Department of General Assembly
and Conference Management.
Inner City Press asked the UN
spokesman Farhan Haq, who
dodged by saying the UN was
waiting for the verdict. But
the UN is not on trial,
because it has and cited
immunity.
Likewise, high UN
official Navid
Hanif attended Ng Lap
Seng's murky event in Macau in
August 2015, and remains at at
the UN. Spokesman Haq refused
to answer about him, while
telling Inner City Press that
lower UN staff member Frances
Fuller “separated from
service” in September 2016,
just after Inner City Press
asked about her.
Francis Lorenzo,
who took more money from Ng
than the now deceased John
Ashe, was given
a UN.org email address by
DGACM despite never being
pictured among Ashe's Special
Advisers, and never giving up
his day job as the Dominican
Republic's Deputy Permanent
Representative.
Even on July 26,
DGACM's Executive Officer told
Inner City Press that the UN
still hands such UN credential
to anyone whom a President of
the General Assembly tells
them too. So nothing has been
reformed.
The Department of
Public Information under Cristina
Gallach took Ng Lap
Seng's money for its slavery
memorial, and allowed fraudulent
events in the UN lobby.
But UN lead spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, who allowed the
content of Ng's South South
News to be included in UNTV
archives under his watch, said
this was just an issue of
“judgment,” not malfeasance.
The UN
Correspondents Association, to
whom Dujarric “lent”
the UN Press Briefing Room
then evicted and still
restricts Inner City Press for
seeking to cover the event
to see if they discussed
taking South South News' money
and providing a venue for Ng's
photo op with Ban Ki-moon, did
not have a single member
correspondent covering the
month-long UN bribery case.
Other dubious events were
being hosted.
And so, while
awaiting the jury's verdict on
Ng Lap Seng - which may be not
guilty given how corrupt the
UN and the star witness
against him Francis Lorenzo
have been shown to be - it is
clear that the UN has not
reformed and remains
corruption and a censor, seven
months into the reign of “new”
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres. It is the UN that
should be prosecuted, or
invited to leave. Watch this
site.
Legal footnotes:
counsel to Ng Lap Seng, Park
Jensen Bennett, Partners Tai H
Park and Douglas Jensen in New
York; and Alexandra Shapiro in
New York; Assistant US
attorneys Douglas Zolkind,
Janis Echenberg and Daniel
Richenthal of the US
Attorney’s Office, David Last,
on detail with the criminal
division fraud section's FCPA
unit.
***
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