Soros is all over the UN. Mark Malloch Brown, the Deputy Secretary General, lives in a house Soros rents to him at below market rates. In violation of UN staff regulations.
In my expose of Soros intentions to overthrow the American constitutional government piece here, I indicated how Soros pays off, buys off the UN, the Democratic party et al. In the continuing UN scandal, the inquiry into Housing Subsidies Contrary to UN Charter Goes Ignored for 8 Weeks, as Head UN Peacekeeper Does Not Respond here.
Despite numerous attempts to get to the truth, the UN continues to stonewall on this scandal. Not only stonewall, but nefariously orchestrate treacheries behind the scenes. Can't you see Soros behind this Bolton smear campaign.
On the August 29 noon briefing, Inner City Press again asked Kofi Annan's spokesman about housing subsidies:
Inner City Press Question: Yesterday, you promised an answer right after the briefing on the staff rules and housing subsidies.
Spokesman: I do have an answer, which is, first of all, we are in the process of replying to Ambassador Bolton's letter. The rules pertaining to rental subsidies and
deductions are regulated through administrative instructions issued by the Secretary-General, which we can give you copies of since they are public documents.
In the process? In the process for months to answer a simple question?
Wednesday Kofi Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Inner City Press that the UN "in the last three years partly as a result of Oil-for Food and [the] Volcker [Committee], is really trying to bring itself up to standards it was never made to meet by the public or by the member states. I think we've done a tremendous amount in that regard. The issue of public disclosure is more tricky."
What's tricky about public disclosure? Unless of course you have something to hide.
What of this apparent conflict of interest? Asked Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Dujarric said among other things, "You have to have an honor system."
There is no honor among these theives. Honor system, at the UN?
Inner City Press
At the UN,
Incomplete Reforms Allow for Gifts of Free Housing to UN Officials by Member States
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 -- When UN officials receive free or cut-rate housing from their countries of nationality, the UN does not consider it a gift or favor, or even remuneration. Wednesday as Inner City Press' inquiry continued, it emerged that the issue is far from abstract. In response to follow-up questions, Kofi Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, "I'm not saying there are not people that do get some benefits and have declared them, because there are, and that's being looked at." When asked if the list of recipient will be made public, Mr. Dujarric said, "These are issues that are being discussed... we may very well move to some form of public disclosure."
At the spokesman's noon media briefing on Wednesday, Inner City Press asked about whether such housing subsidy violate UN Staff Regulation 1.2(j), which states plainly that "No staff member may accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift, or remuneration from any Government." As transcribed, Inner City Press requested that the spokesman "at tomorrow's briefing publicly say if those subsidies are illegal under the rules or not." Mr. Dujarric responded, "They need to be declared and then they are deducted from the allowances received. But I will take a look at the staff rules in details and try to square that circle."
UN insiders interviewed by Inner City Press have called member-states' provision of free or cut-rate housing to their national who serve as UN officials both an open secret and a scandal. While in most legal systems a judge would not be allowed to rule in a case in which he or she was receiving free housing from one of the litigants, at the UN as disclosed Wednesday senior officials in such departments as peacekeeping and political affairs can make decisions impacting their countries while at the same time receiving free housing from their countries.
What of this apparent conflict of interest? Asked Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Dujarric said among other things, "You have to have an honor system." He used as an example that the head of the UN Department of Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, formerly foreign minister of Nigeria, might recuse himself from sensitive matters concerning Nigeria -- but not because of any housing subsidy. Mr. Dujarric added that he was neither saying nor not saying if Mr. Gambari receives any housing subsidy. (UN insiders note that the housing subsidy question should be addressed by Mr. Gambari's predecessor at DPA.) Mr. Dujarric also pointed denied that any housing subsidies were provided to Jean-Marie Guehenno or Louise Frechette. The Canadian mission's press officer Michael Kovrig, in response to a follow-up question from Inner City Press, I can now confirm that Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada did not provide any housing subsidy to Deputy Secretary-General Frechette."
Inner City Press
At the UN, Incomplete Reforms Allow for Gifts of Free Housing to UN Officials by Member States
BYLINE: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 -- When UN officials receive free or cut-rate housing from their countries of nationality, the UN does not consider it a gift or favor, or even remuneration. Wednesday as Inner City Press' inquiry continued, it emerged that the issue is far from abstract. In response to follow-up questions, Kofi Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, "I'm not saying there are not people that do get some benefits and have declared them, because there are, and that's being looked at." When asked if the list of recipient will be made public, Mr. Dujarric said, "These are issues that are being discussed... we may very well move to some form of public disclosure."
At the spokesman's noon media briefing on Wednesday, Inner City Press asked about whether such housing subsidy violate UN Staff Regulation 1.2(j), which states plainly that "No staff member may accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift, or remuneration from any Government." As transcribed,, Inner City Press requested that the spokesman "at tomorrow's briefing publicly say if those subsidies are illegal under the rules or not." Mr. Dujarric responded, "They need to be declared and then they are deducted from the allowances received. But I will take a look at the staff rules in details and try to square that circle."
UN insiders interviewed by Inner City Press have called member-states' provision of free or cut-rate housing to their national who serve as UN officials both an open secret and a scandal. While in most legal systems a judge would not be allowed to rule in a case in which he or she was receiving free housing from one of the litigants, at the UN as disclosed Wednesday senior officials in such departments as peacekeeping and political affairs can make decisions impacting their countries while at the same time receiving free housing from their countries.
What of this apparent conflict of interest? Asked Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Dujarric said among other things, "You have to have an honor system." He used as an example that the head of the UN Department of Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, formerly foreign minister of Nigeria, might recuse himself from sensitive matters concerning Nigeria -- but not because of any housing subsidy. Mr. Dujarric added that he was neither saying nor not saying if Mr. Gambari receives any housing subsidy. (UN insiders note that the housing subsidy question should be addressed by Mr. Gambari's predecessor at DPA.) Mr. Dujarric also pointed denied that any housing subsidies were provided to Jean-Marie Guehenno or Louise Frechette. The Canadian mission's press officer Michael Kovrig, in response to a follow-up question from Inner City Press, I can now confirm that Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada did not provide any housing subsidy to Deputy Secretary-General Frechette."
So it is a practice without practitioners? Wednesday Mr. Dujarric acknowledged that there are senior UN officials who "get some benefits and have declared them." But will that be disclosed?
Kofi Annan's office and others provide various explanations or contexts for the practice. They note that unless you recruit only from within, many of the top jobs at the UN are filled by former diplomats who may already have been receiving housing subsidies from their governments. (The interpretation proffered Wednesday is not limited to such circumstance.)
Mr. Dujarric offered, using Belgium only as a example presumably hypothetical, that "Belgium has an Under-Secretary General, that's important to them, so they say, fine, we'll provide you with the apartment. But that's not remuneration... Remuneration is a salary, rather than a housing subsidy, which is usually more in-kind." Asked about UN Charter Article 100.1, to "refrain from any action which might reflect on their position as international officials responsible only to the Organization" of the UN, Mr. Dujarric added, "We're saying you're not to order orders or instruction from member states, nor are member states to give orders or instructions. There are two sides to this, obviously."
Another explanation offered, for the lack of public disclosure of UN officials' receipt of free or cut-rate housing from member-states, is that some UN officials are no longer on good terms with those in power in their counties of nationality. Public disclosure, it was argued Wednesday, might put the UN officials at risk. The other side, whether the one referred to by Kofi Annan's spokesman or not, is the need at least for disclosure of what nearly any legal or administrative system would deem a possible conflict of interest: the provision and acceptance of free housing from a nation or party the recipient may impact.
To the argument that if senior UN officials claim they cannot live on their UN compensation packages and need benefits from their nations, a defender of the current policy quipped that a certain U.S. Senator from Minnesota might want
Wednesday, Inner City Press asked that Kofi Annan's spokesman "at tomorrow's briefing publicly say if those subsidies are illegal under the rules or not." Mr. Dujarric answered, "They need to be declared and then they are deducted from the allowances received. But I will take a look at the staff rules in details and try to square that circle."
The circle began, as much as anywhere, when high-placed sources within UN Headquarters showed Inner City Press a copy of a letter from U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton, dated June 27, 2006, to Secretary-General. Kofi Annan. The letter asked Mr. Annan for information about UN officials who receive housing subsidies from their countries of nationality in contravention of their duties, under Article 100.1 of the UN Charter, to "refrain from any action which might reflect on their position as international officials responsible only to the Organization" of the UN. Why the U.S. Mission, which is so often quick to comment, made no public statement about the June 27 letter is not known.
Two weeks ago, Inner City Press asked the deputy spokesman of the U.S. Mission, Benjamin Chang, if any response to the letter, whose existence had yet to be publicly disclosed, had been received. A week later, the lead spokesman of the U.S. Mission Richard A. Grenell called Inner City Press offering to fax a copy of John Bolton's letter. In response to Inner City Press' questions to Kofi Annan's office about the letter, it emerged that despite the passage of two months, the letter had not been responded to.
On the August 29 noon briefing, Inner City Press again asked Kofi Annan's spokesman about housing subsidies:
Inner City Press Question: Yesterday, you promised an answer right after the briefing on the staff rules and housing subsidies.
Spokesman: I do have an answer, which is, first of all, we are in the process of replying to Ambassador Bolton's letter. The rules pertaining to rental subsidies and deductions are regulated through administrative instructions issued by the Secretary-General, which we can give you copies of since they are public documents. They provide that staff members who receive housing assistance, including housing provided by the Organization, a Government or a related institution, either free of charge or substantially lower rates, shall subsequently be subjected to payroll deductions from their salaries. We are in the process of checking data to determine if those staff members who are in receipt of that assistance are subject to payroll deductions. These are things that are asked in the financial disclosure forms. Those forms are currently being examined by the Ethics Office. Obviously, anything that needs to be flagged will be flagged. Inner City Press Question: On the second manner that arose yesterday, on the Compass Group…
Spokesman: I have nothing new to add to that.
[Ed.'s note: The Times of London of Aug 30 has added to that, click here to view.]
Just as there appears to be no legal mechanism to require those at the very top of the UN to comply with stated ruled, such as filing the financial disclosure forms, so too there appears to be no outside non-Secretariat body to apply the rules, as written, to the fact of housing subsidies from governments. While it has now been admitted that such subsidies are paid, UN Staff Regulation 1.2(j) states that "No staff member may accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift, or remuneration from any Government." Staff Regulation 1.2(l) says that "no staff member shall accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any non-governmental source without first obtaining the approval of the Secretary-General." This Regulation allows the Secretary-General to make exception only for NON-governmental sources: the prohibit on government sources is absolute, unless the regulation is read to exclude everything except salary payments.
Wednesday Kofi Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Inner City Press that the UN "in the last three years partly as a result of Oil-for Food and [the] Volcker [Committee], is really trying to bring itself up to standards it was never made to meet by the public or by the member states. I think we've done a tremendous amount in that regard. The issue of public disclosure is more tricky."
Mr. Dujarric himself disclosed, "I get a base salary, I hardly get any housing subsidy since I own my apartment, but I get school subsidies. If I had been a member of the French civil service, which I'm not, and they provided me with some help for my kids, then I would have to declare it would be deducted from what the UN gives me." Ah, sunshine. If only those above will follow suit.
On the lighter side, Wednesday Don King strutted out of the Security Council with a tall Russian boxer. Across the hall from the spokesman's office, a journalist reports seeing a mouse.
Thursday at the UN, the IAEA report on Iran will be released at midday. The U.S. resolution on Sudan has been "put in blue," portending a vote on Thursday, the last day of Ghana's Council presidency. China, it is said, may abstain but not veto. We shall see.
