Former UN General Assembly President Arrested on Bribery Charges

One of the former presidents of the United Nations General Assembly was arrested on Tuesday, October 6, on charges of receiving a million dollars in bribes and a free trip for his family to New Orleans from a Chinese billionaire in exchange for facilitating major contracts. According to the Associated Press, John Ashe, the ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations, who held the ceremonial presidency of the General Assembly from September 2013 to 2014, along with five others including Francis Lorenzo, the deputy ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the UN, has been charged with crimes including bribery and conspiracy. The arrest and indictment of these two former officials are part of an investigation and legal case in a federal court in New York City. Another individual arrested two weeks ago in this case is a Chinese billionaire whose request for bail was denied after his false testimony was revealed in the first interrogation session. Based on investigations into this case, John Ashe used his position at the United Nations to advocate for a large building project for UN meetings in Macau, China, presenting a series of documents. The billionaire, Lap Sing Ng, who owns large construction companies, intended to build this building as his personal legacy in his hometown of Macau. Following the arrest of these two officials, no reaction has been published by the lawyers of the other defendants, and it is still unclear how the defendants will defend themselves in the first court session. The diplomatic missions of the Dominican Republic and Antigua and Barbuda in New York have also not commented on this matter. The Associated Press reports, citing prosecutors in the case, that this multi-billion dollar project was under review from 2011 to 2014, during which time John Ashe served as the president of the UN General Assembly. The US Attorney's Office adds that John Ashe, in exchange for receiving bribes, misused his position at the UN to defend the interests of the Chinese billionaire and facilitated his meetings with officials of the Antigua government who assisted him in this investment. The Chinese billionaire and several of his staff were previously arrested for providing false testimony regarding the transfer of four and a half million dollars in cash by a private plane to the US. The prosecution states that part of the bribe to John Ashe was in the form of covering the travel expenses of him and his family to New Orleans and their stay at a hotel where the nightly rate is 850 dollars. Another part of the one million dollar bribe was in the form of constructing a basketball court at his home in New York City. He opened two other bank accounts to receive this money and concealed about one million two hundred thousand dollars of his assets in his income report to the tax office. John Ashe's name and phone number have been removed from the contact list of UN officials. The embassy of Antigua and Barbuda has not responded to the Associated Press's inquiries, and the office of the UN General Assembly president has also not reacted to this matter. The US Attorney's Office states that two other defendants arrested in connection with this case are consultants and staff of the Chinese billionaire who hold US citizenship but reside in China.