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At UN,
Ban Talks
Reform While
Access Sold,
Lykketoft Lent
Office to HTS
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 3 --
Without one
mentioning the
name of John
Ashe, much
less his
fellow
indictees Ng
Lap Seng,
Frank Lorenzo
and Sheri Yan,
on Tuesday
both UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
President of
the General
Assembly
Mogens
Lykketoft gave
speeches about
post-indictment
reform.
Every workday
since the
criminal
complaint,
Inner City
Press has
asked Ban's
spokespeople
for basic
information,
and has been
rebuffed. Most
recently, both
the UN
Development
Program and
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
(previously of
UNDP) have refused
to provide
even a copy of
the agreement
signed by Ng,
UNDP's Teresa
Liu and
Dominica Prime
Minister
Roosevelt
Skerrit.
Inner
City Press
only yesterday
reported that
UNDP was asking
corporations
for $100,000
to be seated
next to heads
of state by
UNDP.
Closer to Ban,
literally, the
UN
Correspondents
Association
(which
previously
took money
from Ng's
media vehicle,
then gave it
an UNCA Award
and Ng a photo
op with Ban)
now offers
seats at the
VIP table,
next to Ban,
for $6,000
(half table)
or $12,000
(full table).
By most
definitions,
this is
corruption.
Mogen
Lykketoft,
meanwhile,
couldn't bring
himself to say
Ashe's name,
only referring
to the
President of
the 68th
General
Assembly
session.
Lykketoft, who
allowed his
Office to be
used for
fellow Dane
Helle
Thorning-Schmidt
to campaign
for the top
spot in the
UN's refugee
agency UNHCR,
said he will
be making
reform
proposals. We
will be there
- with
questions for
Lykketoft.
Ban
again
mentioned what
he told Inner
City Press at
his last
stakeout, a
task force
under his chef
of staff
Susana
Malcorra. But
as Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Dujarric, with
all due
respect, Malcorra
accepted one
of Ng's South
South Awards,
for Ban.
We'll have
more on this.
* * *
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