Former UN General Assembly President Among Six Involved in Alleged Bribery Scheme

The US Attorney's Office is investigating an alleged bribery scheme between a former United Nations General Assembly president, a Chinese billionaire and four others.

Preet Bharara, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said former U.N. General Assembly president John Ashe received $1.3 million in bribes from Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng (known as David Ng) in exchange for supporting the building of a multi-billion-dollar U.N. Conference Center in Macau, China.

Ashe, who was also the U.N. Ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda, allegedly received bribes from various business executives in China since 2011. Not all bribes were cash — they included family vacations and a construction of a private basketball court. 

Bharara said the scheme allegedly was facilitated by Deputy U.N. Ambassador for the Dominican Republic Francis Lorenzo.

"If proven, today's charges will confirm that the cancer of corruption that plagues too many local and state governments infects the United Nations as well," said Bharara.

Ashe also allegedly failed to report the bribe income to the Internal Revenue Service, under-reporting his income tax by more than $1.2 million between 2013 to 2014.

This was the second time that Ng is connected to a scandal where he is accused of using money to buy influence. In the 1990s, Ng funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic National Committee and visited the White House at least 10 times, authorities said.