Macau developer accused of bribery at UN

Ashe also set up meetings with government officials in Antigua and Kenya to help the real estate developers land big development contracts, Bharara said. Ashe’s wife was also allegedly paid $2,500 per month to work as a “climate change consultant” for an organization created by Ng. Attorney information for Mr. Ashe wasn’t available. He opened two bank accounts to receive the funds after which underreported his revenue by greater than $1.2 million, officers stated. Ashe and Lorenzo as honorary or official leaders.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the government of the eastern Caribbean state of Antigua and Barbuda would fully cooperate with USA authorities.

Ng and others used the March 2012 letter from Ashe to promote the conference centre which was to house a “Global Business Incubator” to foster South-South cooperation in the private sector. An ethnic Chinese businessman who channeled the payments from Ng was later convicted of violating USA campaign finance laws.

Van Lierop told reporters outside court he expects his client to be vindicated. Under the conditions of his release, Ashe is subject to home detention and electronic monitoring, and must surrender his travel documents. Five others including Ng are also being held. The official and a “law enforcement source” connected Ng to the control of prostitution rackets in the city.

Baldwin Spencer was prime minister of Antigua at the time.

A U.S. Senate committee concluded in 1998 that Ng had indirectly made contributions of at least $220,000 to the U.S. Democratic National Committee between 1994 and 1996, while Bill Clinton was president.

Ashe, who is from Antigua and Barbuda, is one of six people named in a criminal complaint filed in a New York federal court. A laudatory 1997 article in China Daily said he started his business in Macau in the late 1970s with 100 patacas ($12.5).

The dealings allegedly took place from 2011 to 2014, a period that covers the time Ashe served as president of the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2013.

The federal complaint alleges Ng used intermediaries, including his interpreter Jeff Yin, to pay Ashe upwards of $500,000 to inform the United Nations secretary general that the conference center in Macau was needed.

They were also alleged to have met an unidentified businessman with $400,000 in a briefcase previous year. Ashe, who was arrested Tuesday, is accused of failing to report more than $1 million in income he earned through the payments in his taxes.

Each of the two charges Ashe faces carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.

It was unclear who is representing Yin, Piao and Yan.

A person reached at the permanent mission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations said a representative wasn’t available.

“We’re looking at all the money”, Bharara said.

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit.

The USA cited numerous e-mails involving the defendants to support the charges.