Former top UN official arrested on unprecedented bribery charges
World
Former top UN official arrested on unprecedented bribery charges
A former president of the U.N. General Assembly, John Ashe, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with taking $1.3 million in bribes from Chinese businessmen in a corruption scandal that stunned the world body. Ashe, who served as assembly president from September 2013 to September 2014, allegedly took bribes in exchange for backing a proposed U.N. conference center in Macau promoted by a wealthy Chinese developer Ng Lap Seng.
In return for Rolex watches, a basketball court and bespoke suits, John Ashe sold himself and the global institution he led. United by greed, they converted the U.N. into a platform for profit.
U.S. Federal Attorney Preet Bharara
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “shocked and deeply troubled” by the charges, which were unprecedented in the U.N.’s 70-year history. A U.N. ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda, Ashe accepted bribes from Ng and four others from 2011 to December 2014, according to the documents from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara from New York. Bharara said Tuesday that more people could face criminal charges as part of the corruption probe.
Corruption is not business as usual at the U.N.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
