ICC's Corruption Charges May Inadvertently Reveal #TindigPilipinas' Dirty Laundry
Paula Defensor-Knack, the younger sister of the late Senator Miriam Santiago share a compelling news about the ICC and how corrupt it really is and why the Philippines is better off without it:
FLASHBACK : The president of the ICC Gurmendi (up to March 2018) was accused of receiving monetary rewards for the warrant of arrest against Al Bashir which remains unserved (at large) for 10 years.
Information reaching The London Evening Post here say that between 2004 and 2015, Argentinian-born ICC President Judge Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi allegedly received into her private bank accounts at Banco Popular in the Virgin Islands, the First Caribbean Bank in the Bahamas and the Congregation B’nai Israel unexplained funds mounting to over US$17million that was allegedly used to bribe witnesses that enabled the ICC to indict the Sudanese leader.
FULL TEXT HERE :
By Jessica A Badebye in Nairobi – Kenya
The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is facing calls to resign after it emerged that she may have received financial rewards said to be in millions of dollars to ensure the indictment of Sudanese President Omar al Bashir.
Information reaching The London Evening Post here say that between 2004 and 2015, Argentinian-born ICC President Judge Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi allegedly received into her private bank accounts at Banco Popular in the Virgin Islands, the First Caribbean Bank in the Bahamas and the Congregation B’nai Israel unexplained funds mounting to over US$17million that was allegedly used to bribe witnesses that enabled the ICC to indict the Sudanese leader.
The funds are alleged to have been channelled through Judge de Gurmendi’s accounts by Barting Holding Ltd, Atlantic Corporation, Genesis International Holdings and Napex International, all of which are offshore financial companies, who allegedly made wire transfers ranging from US$150,000-US$250,000 to the judge’s bank accounts. It is alleged that these funds were made available to Judge de Gurmendi during the time that President Bashir was under investigation and the ICC was looking for evidence to indict him.
It has been further alleged that funds channelled through Judge de Gurmendi’s accounts were allegedly distributed by her to groups in Darfur including the Sudan Liberation Movement, formerly the Darfur Liberation Front founded by Abdul Wahid al Nur and others in 2002. Appointed ICC President in March last year, de Gurmendi is alleged to have used the funds to ‘recruit, coach and fake evidence and witnesses to testify against President Bashir’.
ICC President Judge Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi alleged received funds in her bank account to 'buy witnesses for use against Gen Bashir'
ICC President – Judge Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi alleged to have received funds in her bank account to ‘buy witnesses for use against Gen Bashir’.
The scandal has led to Pan African Forum Chief Dr David Nyekorach Matsanga to call upon Judge de Gurmendi to resign from her position. He argued that it was improper for an ICC judge to receive unexplained colossal sums of money which outmatch her annual salary. He added that her resignation would allow proper investigations to take place at OTP hence an account on how she continued to receive large sums of money into her private accounts from 2004, the year Sudan President Bashir was indicted by the court on charges of crimes against humanity, to 2015.
Matsanga argued that the indictment against President Bashir now looks to have been carried out through the corrupting of senior ICC officials. “We thought ICC was created to catch dictators in Africa but instead its witch hunting,” relented Matsanga. He added that on the directives of the then UN Secretary General Koffi Anan, former ICC chief prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo was handpicked to be the ICC chief prosecutor to execute what he described as “Anan’s plan to molest Africa”, which he said has been internationally exhibited by the mode of investigation employed so far in African cases at the ICC in The Hague.
Citing ICC investigations in Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya and Egypt during Ocampo’s tenure as ICC chief prosecutor, Dr Matsanga said he has already provided evidence to the ICC that show Ocampo’s involvement in Bashir’s case. “We have a huge dossier of evidence against Ocampo and others that worked with him,” he said. He added that the evidence he has acquired include video and audio tape evidence as well as bank statements that show the movement of huge sums of money to buy witnesses in order to facilitate the case against Gen Bashir.
http://www.thelondoneveningpost.com/icc-president-in-corru…/
OR
http://www.sudanembassyindia.org/…/ICC-President-in-corrupt…
More importantly, this was also revealed by The Trumpeteer -- the very same source that helped share Mrs. Knack's assault on the ICC:
The scandal has led to Pan African Forum Chief Dr David Nyekorach Matsanga to call upon Judge de Gurmendi to resign from her position.
He added that the evidences that have been acquired include video and audio tape as well as bank statements that show the movement of huge sums of money to buy witnesses in order to facilitate the case against Gen Bashir.
Matsanga argued that it was improper for an ICC judge to receive unexplained colossal sums of money which outmatch her annual salary. “Her (Judge de Gurmendi) resignation would allow proper investigations to take place at OTP hence an account on how she continued to receive large sums of money into her private accounts from 2004, the year Sudan President Bashir was indicted by the court on charges of crimes against humanity, to 2015,” he added.
The scandal has led to Pan African Forum Chief Dr David Nyekorach Matsanga to call upon Judge de Gurmendi to resign from her position.
He added that the evidences that have been acquired include video and audio tape as well as bank statements that show the movement of huge sums of money to buy witnesses in order to facilitate the case against Gen Bashir.
Matsanga argued that it was improper for an ICC judge to receive unexplained colossal sums of money which outmatch her annual salary. “Her (Judge de Gurmendi) resignation would allow proper investigations to take place at OTP hence an account on how she continued to receive large sums of money into her private accounts from 2004, the year Sudan President Bashir was indicted by the court on charges of crimes against humanity, to 2015,” he added.
Matsanga further argued that the indictment against President Bashir now looks to have been carried out through the corrupting of senior ICC officials. “We thought ICC was created to catch dictators in Africa but instead its witch hunting,” relented Matsanga.
He added that on the directives of the then UN Secretary General Koffi Anan, former ICC chief prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo was handpicked to be the ICC chief prosecutor to execute what he described as “Anan’s plan to molest Africa”, which he said has been internationally exhibited by the mode of investigation employed so far in African cases at the ICC in The Hague.
On March 14, Duterte said the Philippines would withdraw from the ICC "effective immediately."
President Rodrigo Duterte also has urged other countries to get out of the ICC days after the Philippines withdrew from the institution.
Even if the charges are still alleged -- shouldn't they be at first investigated to prove her innocence or guilt? But it seems that there is still no investigation done until now towards the allegations to prove her innocence or guilt. What do you expect from an organization (which according toForbes Magazine) that has been there for 12 years worth $ 1 Billion or higher in expenditure yet only two warlords were convicted? This may look like that President Judge Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi is really guilty of accepting money.
You can see that members of the merged anti-Duterte movement (which has members of Liberal Party, Nacionalista and some from Jejomar Binay's side) are on the move. I don't think that the ICC would just let them file a petition to have President Duterte investigated without any real proof. I think it would cost plenty of money. I don't know how much money is paid by members of #TindigPilipinas to the ICC but you may consider the following as the sources of such tremendous amounts of money:
- Members of #TindigPilipinas who are in power are stealing from the national treasury during the Duterte Administration.
- Stolen Yolanda relief goods may also be part of the sources of stolen wealth.
- They may also be receiving money from big time criminals such as big time drug dealers (whether illegal Chinese, any kind of foreigner or Filipino) to get all that money.
What's possible is that while Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Representative Gary Alejano are on their way there -- they are using the people's money to file bogus charges. All it takes is to pay President de Gurmendi and she will release several cases against President Duterte even if her only sources are the Philippines mainstream media such as ABiaS-CBN, GMA-7, Philippine Daily Inquirer and CRappler to name a few sources that they are using instead of having a credible investigation.
The Manila Times also reveal this one about the ICC which isn't too shocking and why I believe it's no longer President Duterte's right but his duty to withdraw the Philippines from such an organization:
In the world economy, the EU accounts for about a fifth of the total; its funding of the ICC is thus three times its share of the global economy. Yet, according to the ICC, “additional funding is provided by voluntary government contributions, international organizations, individuals, corporations, and other entities.”
The lack of transparency and accountability creates potential for gross moral hazard. For instance, multinationals that have funded warlords in Africa to extract oil, gas, minerals and conflict diamonds might be particularly interested in targeting African politicians in the ICC.
Critics believe that as the ICC ignores the governments and focuses on their leaders, it may support flawed investigations that ignore the role of the governments while tacitly supporting regime change through new leaders. In some cases, prosecution of leaders in the ICC has made them less likely to peacefully step down. Also, success in investigations requires state cooperation, which the ICC mandate shuns and that can result in inconsistent and discriminatory selection of cases.
Unsurprisingly, the half a dozen countries that voted against the ICC Statute in 1998 included both the US and China. While President Clinton signed the statute, he knew that it would never be ratified on Capitol Hill.
More recently, the US and Russia have said they no longer intend to become ICC members and thus have no legal obligations arising from their signature of the statute. China’s view is that the ICC goes against the sovereignty of nation states.
This should be a real reason why President Duterte should withdraw from ICC. If I were president, prime minister or whatever high rank I'd get -- I would really want to urge everyone from my side to the opposition not to support such a huge money hungry monster. You can see that the ICC has problems of a lack of transparency and selective justice -- so how is this kind of organization really all about check and balance?
The same article also reveals George Soros is also involved in the ICC which may explain why (and take note that Agnes Callamard is in that same picture):
Since fall 2017, even Ocampo’s ICC role has elicited questions. While his legal expertise is highly regarded, his ties to Soros-supported organizations stem from the early 1990s, when Soros began to infuse funds into a real estate conglomerate (IRSA), a prominent backer of Ocampo’s NGO in Argentina. In the mid-1990s, Ocampo began to work for Transparency International, a corruption watchdog that has been criticized for bias against developing countries, overseeing work on Latin America. A decade later, he participated in a roundtable by Soros’ Open Society called “Restoring American Leadership – the International Criminal Court.”
Since fall 2017, even Ocampo’s ICC role has elicited questions. While his legal expertise is highly regarded, his ties to Soros-supported organizations stem from the early 1990s, when Soros began to infuse funds into a real estate conglomerate (IRSA), a prominent backer of Ocampo’s NGO in Argentina. In the mid-1990s, Ocampo began to work for Transparency International, a corruption watchdog that has been criticized for bias against developing countries, overseeing work on Latin America. A decade later, he participated in a roundtable by Soros’ Open Society called “Restoring American Leadership – the International Criminal Court.”
The events from Callamard's "visit" to the Philippines (where she was formally invited by Chito Gascon) to her constant meddling reveals the links with Soros. I wouldn't be too surprised if Callamard herself would soon meddle for the umpteenth time with President Duterte's decision. After all, how much money is the ICC receiving from the Philippines anyway? All that money could have been used for useful activities such as infrastructure projects, financing education for the deserving poor, maintaining government hospitals and fixing damaged areas to name a few. Instead, a lot of that money was spent on destablization.
This may also mean that the ICC corruption as it gets out may also put Feeling Vice President Leni Loud Robredo in danger for this reason. First, why is there so many delays in the recounts in the electoral protest filed by Bongbong Marcos? Second, why is Feeling VP Leni Loud giving her message concerning extrajudicial killings to the international community? This may end up revealing any plan that would make her the new president (because she would so easy to puppet) in place of overthrown President Duterte.
It may only be a matter of time that President Duterte's decision will totally wreck the Liberal Party and its allies into oblivion. Just think of how many can be charged with treason all thanks to the act of withdrawing from the ICC.
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