The president of the General Assembly UN John Ashe , and other five people, including a Dominican diplomat, were arrested in connection with a corruption case billionaires scope, announced the US authorities.
Ashe is accused of receiving over half a million dollars in bribes from a builder He sought to develop a center of UN conferences in the Chinese territory of Macau, according to documents released by the Federal Attorney for the Southern District of New York and quoted today by the news agency EFE.
according to the prosecution, this diplomatic, which chaired the UN Assembly between 2013 and 2014 also pocketed another $ 800,000 from Chinese entrepreneurs to support their interests at the UN and in Antigua and Barbuda, its country of origin and to the organization representing .
Both Ashe and the other defendants are under arrest, said sources from the prosecution.
Among those arrested was the deputy permanent representative of the Dominican Republic at the United Nations, Francis Lorenzo, according to the prosecution.
the main UN officials "stupefied" pleaded and offered their cooperation to the US authorities to reach the merits.
"corruption has no place in the United Nations or anywhere else, "said the current president of the Assembly, the Danish Mogens Lykketoft, at a press conference.
Lykketoft said that, if confirmed, the scandal would be" an attack on the heart of the integrity of the United Nations ", a message similar to that expressed by his spokesman secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Ban is "shocked" and "deeply concerned" by the prosecution and that the secretariat will cooperate with the investigation if deemed necessary.
Among those arrested there are other two Americans naturalized Chinese were processed for five charges, including conspiracy to bribe a senior UN official, bribery and conspiracy to make illegal transportation of money.
the research began in the arrest last month, builder Ng Lap Seng accused of introducing 4.5 million illegally in the United States
. Source: Telam