In UN Scandal Fallout, Resignation of Dominica PM Skerrit Demanded
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive series
UNITED NATIONS, November 6 -- The UN scandal unfolding from the indictments of former Antigua and Barbuda Ambassador John Ashe and Ng Lap Seng has led to a request by the opposition in Dominica to the country's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, to resign. Inner City Press has put the request letter online here. The letter among other things demands:
"Immediate disclosure of the agreement you signed in Macau on August 26th, 2015 with Teresa Liu of the UN South-South Cooperation Office and NG Lap Seng of the Sun Kian IP Group Foundation."
Inner City Press has requested a copy of this agreement from the UNOSSC, and from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, previously the spokesman for UNDP. Video here.
At his bail hearing on charges of paying bribes at the UN, through President of the General Assembly John Ashe, Dominican Republic Deputy Permanent Representative Frank Lorenzo and others, Macau businessman Ng Lap Seng was said to have five (5) passports.
That is a lot of passports for a single individual, but four of them made near immediate sense: China, Portugal (Macao was a former Portuguese colony), Lorenzo's Dominican Republic and Ashe's Antigua and Barbuda.
But what about the fifth one, Dominica?
This is part of a wider story. Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was photographed at Ng's and UNDP's “South South” conference in Macau in late August 2015, ostensibly signing an agreement including Ng and UNDP's Teresa Liu for “Technology Transfer" center in Dominica. Earlier, Skerrit reportedly negotiated with Ng about investing in a hotel and even casino project and had other financial dealings.
Photo: As UN scandal UNfolds, here were Davig Ng, UNDP's Liu and #Dominica's PM Skerrit: story soon pic.twitter.com/sMNL1Xd9lK
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 30, 2015
For a full week, UNDP has refused to provide a copy of what Skerrit signed. Video here.
As Inner City Press reported earlier this week, Dominica under Skerrit has a history of giving out diplomatic passports and positions to non-nationals; the first example Inner City Press gave was one Paulo Zampolli. Inner City Press reported on his real estate and modeling businesses in New York; he is still listed in the UN's Blue Book at Dominica's (lone) Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN. Unlike other Dominica / Skerrit beneficiaires, as a US citizen Zampolli does not benefit from immunity.
Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric what scrutiny the UN gives before accrediting non-nationals as a country's Permanent or Deputy Permanent Representative. Dujarric replied that it entirely up to member states, similar to his responses on Ban's Secretariat's responsibility for changing documents for Ng, and accepting funds and invitations and giving photo ops, including through the UN Correspondents Association, to Ng and Sheri Yan, also indicted.
But there are more, not without controversy - and while the UN gives a blind eye, some others don't. Under Skerrit, Dominica tried to name as its ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization one Francesco “Corallo, a gaming magnate on Interpol’s most wanted list on suspicion of “organized crime, transnational crime and fraud.” (It seems the publications of UNCA's president, who gave Ng the photo op with Ban Ki-moon, have not reported on this assignment to a UN agency. UNCA's Vice President was present at Ng's Macau conference where Skerrit signed with UNDP's Liu.)
Then there was the neo-Nazi.
In 2004 Dominica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Marketing wrote to Ireland, requesting “agrément” for the appointment of one Serge Roger De Thibault De Boesinghe as Dominica's Ambassador to Ireland. UNcovered: “It turns out that in the 70s, De Boesinghe becam
Original Title
Dominica Opposition Letter to PM Skerrit Demanding Ng-UNDP Document
In UN Scandal Fallout, Resignation of Dominica PM Skerrit Demanded
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive series
UNITED NATIONS, November 6 -- The UN scandal unfolding from the indictments of former Antigua and Barbuda Ambassador John Ashe and Ng Lap Seng has led to a request by the opposition in Dominica to the country's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, to resign. Inner City Press has put the request letter online here. The letter among other things demands:
"Immediate disclosure of the agreement you signed in Macau on August 26th, 2015 with Teresa Liu of the UN South-South Cooperation Office and NG Lap Seng of the Sun Kian IP Group Foundation."
Inner City Press has requested a copy of this agreement from the UNOSSC, and from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, previously the spokesman for UNDP. Video here.
At his bail hearing on charges of paying bribes at the UN, through President of the General Assembly John Ashe, Dominican Republic Deputy Permanent Representative Frank Lorenzo and others, Macau businessman Ng Lap Seng was said to have five (5) passports.
That is a lot of passports for a single individual, but four of them made near immediate sense: China, Portugal (Macao was a former Portuguese colony), Lorenzo's Dominican Republic and Ashe's Antigua and Barbuda.
But what about the fifth one, Dominica?
This is part of a wider story. Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was photographed at Ng's and UNDP's “South South” conference in Macau in late August 2015, ostensibly signing an agreement including Ng and UNDP's Teresa Liu for “Technology Transfer" center in Dominica. Earlier, Skerrit reportedly negotiated with Ng about investing in a hotel and even casino project and had other financial dealings.
Photo: As UN scandal UNfolds, here were Davig Ng, UNDP's Liu and #Dominica's PM Skerrit: story soon pic.twitter.com/sMNL1Xd9lK
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 30, 2015
For a full week, UNDP has refused to provide a copy of what Skerrit signed. Video here.
As Inner City Press reported earlier this week, Dominica under Skerrit has a history of giving out diplomatic passports and positions to non-nationals; the first example Inner City Press gave was one Paulo Zampolli. Inner City Press reported on his real estate and modeling businesses in New York; he is still listed in the UN's Blue Book at Dominica's (lone) Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN. Unlike other Dominica / Skerrit beneficiaires, as a US citizen Zampolli does not benefit from immunity.
Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric what scrutiny the UN gives before accrediting non-nationals as a country's Permanent or Deputy Permanent Representative. Dujarric replied that it entirely up to member states, similar to his responses on Ban's Secretariat's responsibility for changing documents for Ng, and accepting funds and invitations and giving photo ops, including through the UN Correspondents Association, to Ng and Sheri Yan, also indicted.
But there are more, not without controversy - and while the UN gives a blind eye, some others don't. Under Skerrit, Dominica tried to name as its ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization one Francesco “Corallo, a gaming magnate on Interpol’s most wanted list on suspicion of “organized crime, transnational crime and fraud.” (It seems the publications of UNCA's president, who gave Ng the photo op with Ban Ki-moon, have not reported on this assignment to a UN agency. UNCA's Vice President was present at Ng's Macau conference where Skerrit signed with UNDP's Liu.)
Then there was the neo-Nazi.
In 2004 Dominica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Marketing wrote to Ireland, requesting “agrément” for the appointment of one Serge Roger De Thibault De Boesinghe as Dominica's Ambassador to Ireland. UNcovered: “It turns out that in the 70s, De Boesinghe becam
In UN Scandal Fallout, Resignation of Dominica PM Skerrit Demanded
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive series
UNITED NATIONS, November 6 -- The UN scandal unfolding from the indictments of former Antigua and Barbuda Ambassador John Ashe and Ng Lap Seng has led to a request by the opposition in Dominica to the country's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, to resign. Inner City Press has put the request letter online here. The letter among other things demands:
"Immediate disclosure of the agreement you signed in Macau on August 26th, 2015 with Teresa Liu of the UN South-South Cooperation Office and NG Lap Seng of the Sun Kian IP Group Foundation."
Inner City Press has requested a copy of this agreement from the UNOSSC, and from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, previously the spokesman for UNDP. Video here.
At his bail hearing on charges of paying bribes at the UN, through President of the General Assembly John Ashe, Dominican Republic Deputy Permanent Representative Frank Lorenzo and others, Macau businessman Ng Lap Seng was said to have five (5) passports.
That is a lot of passports for a single individual, but four of them made near immediate sense: China, Portugal (Macao was a former Portuguese colony), Lorenzo's Dominican Republic and Ashe's Antigua and Barbuda.
But what about the fifth one, Dominica?
This is part of a wider story. Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was photographed at Ng's and UNDP's “South South” conference in Macau in late August 2015, ostensibly signing an agreement including Ng and UNDP's Teresa Liu for “Technology Transfer" center in Dominica. Earlier, Skerrit reportedly negotiated with Ng about investing in a hotel and even casino project and had other financial dealings.
Photo: As UN scandal UNfolds, here were Davig Ng, UNDP's Liu and #Dominica's PM Skerrit: story soon pic.twitter.com/sMNL1Xd9lK
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 30, 2015
For a full week, UNDP has refused to provide a copy of what Skerrit signed. Video here.
As Inner City Press reported earlier this week, Dominica under Skerrit has a history of giving out diplomatic passports and positions to non-nationals; the first example Inner City Press gave was one Paulo Zampolli. Inner City Press reported on his real estate and modeling businesses in New York; he is still listed in the UN's Blue Book at Dominica's (lone) Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN. Unlike other Dominica / Skerrit beneficiaires, as a US citizen Zampolli does not benefit from immunity.
Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric what scrutiny the UN gives before accrediting non-nationals as a country's Permanent or Deputy Permanent Representative. Dujarric replied that it entirely up to member states, similar to his responses on Ban's Secretariat's responsibility for changing documents for Ng, and accepting funds and invitations and giving photo ops, including through the UN Correspondents Association, to Ng and Sheri Yan, also indicted.
But there are more, not without controversy - and while the UN gives a blind eye, some others don't. Under Skerrit, Dominica tried to name as its ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization one Francesco “Corallo, a gaming magnate on Interpol’s most wanted list on suspicion of “organized crime, transnational crime and fraud.” (It seems the publications of UNCA's president, who gave Ng the photo op with Ban Ki-moon, have not reported on this assignment to a UN agency. UNCA's Vice President was present at Ng's Macau conference where Skerrit signed with UNDP's Liu.)
Then there was the neo-Nazi.
In 2004 Dominica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Marketing wrote to Ireland, requesting “agrément” for the appointment of one Serge Roger De Thibault De Boesinghe as Dominica's Ambassador to Ireland. UNcovered: “It turns out that in the 70s, De Boesinghe becam
Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit Prime Minister & Minister of Finance Financial Center Kennedy Avenue Roseau Commonwealth of Dominica Sir: In light of the crisis into which our disaster affected country has been plunged by your dangerous affiliation with an alleged Macau Crime Lord now charged for international racketeering, money laundering and other crimes, the members of the Parliamentary Opposition request an urgent meeting of the Parliamentary Advisory Group on National Reconstruction. Since the last meeting of the group on September 21st, 2015, continuing revelations from a probe into corrupt practices at the United Nations by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the US has severely tarnished the integrity of Dominicas leadership and its capacity for good governance. As members of Parliament elected to serve the public interest without fear or favour affection or ill-will, we are duty bound to demand prompt resolution of this most unfortunate state of affairs. Indeed, in the context of the unity of purpose initiative that both sides of Parliament entered into in the wake of Tropical Storm Erika, there is a legitimate public expectation that together we will put Dominica first and deal decisively with any development that compromises or negatively affects the national reconstruction effort. The allegations of bribery and corruption under the cover of the United Nations swirling around the leadership of Dominica at
this time represents one such development requiring immediate corrective
action to safeguard the public interest. In the civilized world, leaders in similar situations take the honourable course of action and resign in order to clear themselves as fit and proper for leadership responsibility. Dominica deserves and should therefore demand no less. As you have disclosed, as a result of the damage caused by TS Erika, Dominica needs 1.3 billion EC dollars to restore its infrastructure and over 90 million EC dollars for the resettlement of evacuated residents in affected communities. More than ever before, Dominica needs competent, focused, untainted leadership able to secure the confidence of the development cooperation partners in particular that will facilitate the debt forgiveness, soft loan and grant financing needed to successfully complete the reconstruction funding package. Given the emerging evidence of the extent to which you have subjected our independence to the influence of an alleged crime syndicate, it is unreasonable to expect you to effectively discharge the national leadership responsibility for successful reconstruction at this time. Things are going from bad to worse post Erika. Public criticisms of Cabinets handling of the recovery and reconstruction effort so far from Cabinet members themselves tell the regrettable story of a leadership team at war with itself and therefore incapable of effective public service performance. Indeed, we are heading for a major economic meltdown and catastrophic social upheaval as a result of the failure of Cabinet under your leadership to get the fundamentals of relief, recovery and reconstruction right. We cannot continue down that road. We must change course. And for God and country, we must do it now. Accordingly, we need a special meeting of the Parliamentary Advisory Group on National Reconstruction on or before November 6th, 2015 to deal with following matters of growing public concern: 1. An agreement for you to step aside as Prime Minister within 30 days pending 1) the completion of US FBI investigations into the corruption of the United Nations by the so-called crime syndicate of NG Lap Seng; and 2) the resolution of whatever unlawful agreements or exchanges you may have concluded with the Head of the Macau based Sun Kian IP Group and/or any of its subsidiaries.
2. Immediate disclosure of the agreement you signed in Macau on August
26th, 2015 with Teresa Liu of the UN South-South Cooperation Office and NG Lap Seng of the Sun Kian IP Group Foundation 3. Immediate disclosure of the agreement under which Italian aristocrat Paolo Zampolli joined the diplomatic staff at Dominicas permanent mission to the United Nations and now appears to be using the august body as cover for his murky, private dealings. We have remained faithful in service to the common good as members of the Parliamentary Advisory Group on National reconstruction notwithstanding vicious public attacks on our sincerity of purpose by your chief spokesman and legal advisor and your blatant refusal to distance yourself from his inaccurate and highly obnoxious comments. We have noted the routine rejection of our advice on critical elements of recovery and reconstruction which has raised compelling public queries about the credibility and usefulness of the initiative to work together. Nonetheless, this request to free up the national leadership responsibility from the compromising influence of your connection to accused international criminals is the most serious and far-reaching advice we have offered in the national interest to date. We expect that it will be accepted in the spirit of love for country in which it is offered and thereby underscore the necessity of this joint initiative for the good we are committed to do for our beloved Dominica. Regards,