Former UN assembly president charged with corruption

US authorities charged a former president of the United Nations General Assembly, a billionaire Macau real estate developer and four others on Tuesday for their parts in a wide-ranging corruption scheme.

John Ashe, a former UN ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, who was president in 2013, was accused in a complaint filed in federal court in New York of taking more than $1.3 million (about €1.15 million) in bribes from Chinese businessmen, including developer Ng Lap Seng.

The complaint said Mr Ng, through intermediaries, paid Mr Ashe more than $500,000(about €444,000).

In exchange, Mr Ashe is said to have told the UN secretary general that a multibillion-dollar UN-sponsored conference centre in Macau was needed.

The intermediaries included Mr Ng's assistant, Jeff Yin, and Francis Lorenzo, who had been a deputy UN ambassador from the Dominican Republic.

Mr Yin (29) was arrested with Mr Ng (68) last month on separate charges.

The complaint said that Mr Yin told FBI agents after the arrest that his boss viewed the conference centre as his legacy and had made payments to obtain action from the United Nations on it.

Mr Ashe (61) also received more than $800,000 (about €719,000) in bribes from Chinese businessmen to support their interests within the UN and Antigua, and kicked some of the money to Antigua’s prime minister at the time, the complaint said.

Baldwin Spencer was prime minister of Antigua at the time.

The complaint said that those bribes were arranged through Shiwei Yan (57), chief executive officer of a New York-based non-profit, and Heidi Hong Piao (52), the organisation’s finance director.

The complaint said Mr Ashe deposited more than $3 million (about €2.7 million) from foreign governments and officials in accounts at two major American banks from 2012 to 2014.

It said that he transferred some money to his wife’s bank accounts and spent other sums on his home mortgage in Dobbs Ferry, New York; BMW lease payments; and Rolex watches.

Bieber Brian, Mr Lorenzo’s lawyer, said his client “maintains that he acted in good faith at all times and believed in the integrity of what he was told by those involved”.

Mr Ng’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said his client committed no crime.

Arrests

The case followed the September 19th arrest of Mr Ng and Mr Yin for falsely claiming that $4.5 million (about €4 million) they brought into the US from China from 2013 to 2015 was meant for gambling or buying art, antiques or real estate.

US prosecutors have said that Mr Ng has a fortune of $1.8 billion (about €1.6 billion), much of which he earned on developments in Macau.

He sits on the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an adviser to the Chinese government.

Ng heads the privately-held Sun Kian Ip Group in Macau, whose foundation arm lists several ambassadors to the UN, including Mr Ashe, as holding leadership positions.

The UN General Assembly presidency is a ceremonial one-year post paid for by the home country.

The complaint only charged Mr Ashe with tax offences, possibly because he may have diplomatic immunity for any conduct taken in his official capacity.

Reuters