In an embarrassing turn of events for the United Nations, former General Assembly president John Ashe was arrested and charged today with accepting more than USD 1.3-million bribe from businesspeople in China in exchange for help to Chinese businesses obtain lucrative contracts.
Ashe, 61, who had served as the 68th UNGA President, was arrested here and is among six people arrested in the case.
He along with Deputy UN Ambassador for the Dominican Republic Francis Lorenzo, Ng Lap Seng, Jeff Yin, Shiwei Yan and Heidi Hong Piao were charged in connection with a multi-year scheme to pay more than USD 1.3 million in bribes to Ashe in exchange for official actions in his capacity as UNGA President and Antiguan government official in support of Chinese business interests.
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, in announcing the charges, said if proven, the charges will confirm that the "cancer of corruption" plagues too many local and state governments and has infected the United Nations as well.
"As alleged, for Rolexes, bespoke suits, and a private basketball court, John Ashe, the 68th President of the UN General Assembly, sold himself and the global institution he led," Bharara said.
He said the defendants were "united in greed" and allegedly formed a corrupt nexus of business and government, converting the UN into a platform for profit.
According to the allegations, Ashe has been soliciting and accepting bribes since approximately 2011 from various businesspeople in China seeking to influence the actions of the UN and officials in Ashe's home country of Antigua.
He solicited and took the bribes at the time when he served as UN Ambassador for Antigua and as the 68th President of the UNGA.
The bribes were facilitated by the other defendants who arranged for the transmission and laundering of over USD 1 million of bribery money from sources in China.
In exchange for the bribes, Ashe agreed to and did perform official actions for businesspeople who were seeking benefits from the UN and Antigua.
On one occasion, he accepted over USD 500,000 of bribes facilitated by Lorenzo and Yin from Ng, who was seeking to build a multibillion-dollar, UN-sponsored conference center in Macau, China.
In exchange for these payments, Ashe submitted a UN document to the UN Secretary-General, which claimed that there was a purported need to build the UN Macau Conference Centre.
In addition, Ashe received over USD 800,000 in bribes from various Chinese businessmen arranged through Yan and Piao and, in return for these bribes, Ashe advocated for these businessmen's interests within the UN and with senior Antiguan government officials, including the country's then-Prime Minister, with whom Ashe shared a portion of the bribe payments.
