Page 23 - Islands Business October 2023 edition

Special Report Special Report

told OCCRP. His first point of contact was a New York-based Former Secretary-General Ban “had no knowledge
businessman, Fan “Frank” Liu. whatsoever of Mr. Nkolo’s activities,” and did not know that
Nowadays, Liu is under indictment in New York’s Eastern someone had paid to have a photo taken with him, Dujarric
District for allegedly working on behalf of China’s Ministry of said. He added that Ban had since appointed a task force “to
State Security to harass dissidents in the United States. But promote transparency and accountability in the functioning
back in 2015, he was simply known as a Chinese community of the President of the General Assembly.” A report on its
leader and charity operator who, according to media coverage findings was presented to the assembly in March 2016.
from the time, was a fixture on the diplomatic cocktail circuit The associate of Liu who helped broker the deal,
that surrounds the U.N.’s Manhattan headquarters. Edwards, told OCCRP that Liu received money as part of the
Liu did not respond to questions from OCCRP. arrangement but said she did not know how much. She said
Emails shared by Nip with reporters show that Liu and a she was never involved in anything “illegal” during her work
close business associate, Jeanmarie Nicole Edwards, helped for Liu, which she described as consultancy.
get Yan access to U.N. events and officials. Nkolo and Kutesa did not respond to reporters’ questions.
Yan was even able to get photos taken of himself alongside The incident comes as no surprise to Michael Jacobson,
Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. Secretary-General at the time, in Chairman of the Montessori Model U.N., a New York-based
return for payment. This effort was only the first of a series of non-profit that teaches students about global conflict
photo-ops with U.N. grandees that Yan arranged with the help resolution. Jacobson hosted Yan and his retinue at one Model
of paid fixers in an effort to raise his stature. U.N. conference and accepted a donation from the Chinese
According to emails from Nip, the Ban photos were made businessman. He later regretted it, he told OCCRP.
possible thanks to an introduction Liu and Edwards provided In an interview, Jacobson described seeing a steady stream
with the office of the President of the U.N. General Assembly, of questionable Chinese businessmen who wanted photos and
a position then held by controversial Ugandan politician Sam other proof of their closeness to the U.N. The global body’s
Kutesa. headquarters is a “watering hole for an incredible amount of
Based on this introduction, Yan and Zhou’s associate Nip fraud,” he said.
traveled to San Francisco to meet Kutesa’s spokesman Jean- “The Chinese refer to the General Assembly as the ‘Golden
Victor Nkolo in mid-2015, the emails show. The spokesman Hall’,” he said. “If you’re photographed at the U.N. …
promised Nip he could broker a meeting with his boss and you’re perceived to be a step above the average Chinese
other U.N. figures for hundreds of thousands of dollars in businessman.”
payments, according to an email Nip sent to Zhou soon Jacobson failed to do his own due diligence on Yan and his
afterwards. associates, he said, because they were introduced to him by a
After agreeing to the deal, Yan, Zhou, and an entourage trusted middleman, who would soon—thanks to another case
traveled to New York. On June 29, 2015, they had a meeting —become a public face of U.N. corruption.
and lunch with Kutesa during a high-level U.N. meeting on That man was Francis Lorenzo, an ambassador from the
climate change. The following day, Kutesa’s staffers helped Dominican Republic to the U.N.
Yan get a rushed series of photos with Ban on the sidelines of
an art event in which the bemused-looking former Secretary- Ever greater levels of UN access
General can be seen holding a box of Yan and Zhou’s miracle Yan and Zhou first engaged Lorenzo in mid-2015, according
water. to internal emails and interviews with people familiar
Kutesa’s spokesman, Nkolo, appeared to be proud of his with the arrangement. They quickly came to rely on the
work. Dominican’s network to achieve ever greater levels of U.N.
“Absolutely remarkable,” Nkolo wrote soon afterwards in access.
an email with the photos attached. “That’s why one always But in October 2015, within months of getting into business
need[s] a top professional photographer to beautifully capture with the Chinese couple, Lorenzo was charged as part of a
memorable moments that should not be missed. Priceless.” separate high-level U.S. probe.
In response to questions from OCCRP, the U.N. Secretary- The scheme, described in media at the time as the U.N.’s
General’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said that his office worst financial scandal in decades, involved over $1.3 million
had become aware of Yan and Zhou’s activities during the in bribes paid by a Macau casino billionaire to Kutesa’s
course of a broader internal investigation, the contents of predecessor as General Assembly President, Antigua’s John W.
which he did not share with reporters. He confirmed the Ashe.
probe found that Yan and Zhou had indeed paid for their mid- Lorenzo eventually pleaded guilty to bribery and money
2015 U.N. meetings, but that “none of these payments came laundering, but did not serve a prison sentence.
through United Nations accounts.” Despite being caught up in a very public corruption case, he
The U.N. investigation found that Yan and Zhou used proxies remained an influential figure who was able to shepherd Yan
to send at least $150,000 from China disguised as “tuition and Zhou through the U.N., reporters found.
fees” into a “shadow account” account run by Ugandan This was possible in part because he was well-liked in the
diplomats, Dujarric said. Nkolo resigned from the U.N. before diplomatic community, explained Carlos Garcia, a former
the probe was concluded, he added. El Salvadoran permanent representative to the U.N., who

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