Sudan Ousters and Money, Of Global Fund and UNFCU Dollars to Khartoum
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Follow Up
UNITED NATIONS, December 28, 2014 more here - With the UN belatedly moving
to stand up to pressure from the Sudanese government of Omar al Bashir, who
has ordered UN officials Yvonne Helle and Ali Al-Za'tari to leave the
country, Inner City Press yesterday exclusively reported on a particularly
shameful way in which the UN and Al-Za'tari tried to placate the Sudanese
government, to the extend of giving it the U.S. dollars of UN national staff
in Sudan.
Now, in terms of the December 24 order to the UN Development Program's
Country Director Yvonne Helle to leave about which Inner City Press first
asked at the UN noon briefing on December 24, sources exclusively tell Inner
City Press of UNDP's role as the "interim" Principal Recipient of funding of
the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and of a
disagreement.
In most countries, the government is the Principal Recipient. In Sudan,
which as we reported yesterday made a play successfully to get the U.S.
dollar deposits of UN national staff, that has not been the case. The Global
Fund's webpage on the topic, Principal Recipient in Sudan, lists Ali
Al-Za'tari.
Once again, it's a case of Follow the Money.
Last week Inner City Press exclusively reported on the UN Federal Credit
Union abruptly telling UN national staff in Sudan that their accounts were
being frozen and the dollars in them transferred to the Bank of Khartoum.
Inner City Press has asked the UN, including UNDP, OCHA and UNFPA, to
explain this.
On December 27 Inner City Press exclusively published a complaint filed
with Ali Al-Za'tari about the change, here. Inner City Press notes that the
decision to give the UN national staff's dollars to the Bank of Khartoum
flies in the face, in fact, of the sanctions. The complaint to Al-Za'tari
states that
"UNFCU closed checking and savings accounts of national staff without prior
notification and consultation and unilaterally transferred all funds of
staff members' accounts to local saving accounts to be paid in SDG by Bank
of Khartoum... Based on the long years of established provision of the UNFCU
service, majority of national staff have made long term financial
arrangements taking into account UNFCU deposits facilities which provided
solutions to many of their problems such as medical treatments and education
to them and their families."
UNFCU's President and CEO William Predmore told national staff in Sudan
that that "as you may be aware, UNFCU is subject to U.S. Regulations
(including those promulgated by the Office of Foreign Assets Controls
(OFAC)). In order to ensure compliance with those regulations, checking
account services and debit card services were terminated for local staff."
(Many were stranded with AMT cards that didn't work, while their dollars
were transferred to the Bank of Khartoum.)
Contrary to what UNFCU's Predmore told staff in writing, the US OFAC has
told UN staff that sanctions law and regulation does NOT require what the UN
has done, citing 31 CFR 538.531.
Tellingly, Predmore's letter to staff also says that the switch was made
pursuant to UNDP's rules. What rules?
Now the UN Security Council is set to meet on December 30 about Sudan's
order to Ali Al-Za'tari and Yvonne Helle to leave; the Council will say they
are in support of UN staff. What will they do about UN staff members'
dollars having been given to the Sudanese authorities?
In essence, UNDP and its Resident Coordinator Ali Al-Za'tari gave Khartoum
the U.S. dollars of UN national staff, without notice. Even that wasn't
enough to keep him in the country. But it is reminiscent of another UN scam
Inner City Press exclusive uncovered, the overpayment of Myanmar by inflated
foreign exchange rate in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.
That was covered and credited - will this be? Or does the scam here extend
to covering up the complicity of UN officials like not only Herve Ladsous
but even, yes, Ali Al-Za'tari, who remained silent when UNFPA's country
director was thrown out of Sudan in April, and as Inner City Press asked the
UN on December 24, gave in quickly to the ouster of Yvonne Helle? Watch this
site.
Received on Sun Dec 28 2014 - 12:02:06 EST