Articles

Ocampo’s “Sex Scandal” and its repercussions
We know now why L. Ocampo was so feverishly bent on escalation with Sudan, despite warnings from highly respected Sudan experts.  We also know why he was obsessed with setting deadlines.  The reason is his desire to stir a storm in order to “bury” the news of his professional misconduct and underhand behaviour.  These are not strong words.  They are justified by the “sex scandal case” which Mr. Christian Palme of Sweden has won against the International Criminal Court.  The Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation ruled in favour of Mr. Palme and awarded him 25.000 Euros and ordered that he be paid his salary for several months.  

 The date of Judgement No. 2757 is crucial.  It was declared in Geneva on the 9th July 08 (four days before Ocampo’s infamous indictment of H.E. President Omar Bashir!!)  Indeed Ocampo did manage to deflect attention from that case; but just as lawyers have always said that “there is no perfect crime” it is also true that “there is no perfect cover-up.”  To his credit, Joshua Rosenberg (legal editor – The Daily Telegraph) was among the first to call for Ocampo’s resignation in an article on 17th July 08.

On the same day a press conference was held at the Sudanese Embassy in London in which the Ambassador H.E. Omer Siddig and the Media Counsellor called for Ocampo to resign after the failure of his cover-up ploy.

The crucial point which made the court rule in favour of Mr. Palme was the fact that (following his dismissal from the ICC by Mr. Ocampo) he decided to appeal.  His appeal too was not successful. When he took his case to the International Labour Organisation, it transpired that “honest Ocampo” was a member of the ICC Committee which rejected the appeal!  “Honest Ocampo” sat on a committee to consider a complaint against himself!! worse, he refused to comply with ICC Presidency recommendation to reinstate Mr. Palme!  This does not only tell us tales about Ocampo; but about the whole ICC mechanism.

Is this the standard of a prosecutor fit to level accusations at Ministers and Presidents?  “Honest Ocampo” should go.  He was not interested in Justice for Darfur; but in saving his own skin after Mr. Palme submitted a written complaint in which he accused him of sexual harassment of a South African woman in 06.  As a result Palme was summarily dismissed by honest Ocampo who denied the accusation.  The rest is not yet history.  The resignation is still to come!

Media Office
18th July 2008