A Chinese-born foundation executive involved in a United Nations corruption case has allegedly pleaded guilty on Wednesday. The woman is the second defendant admitting her role in the bribing case involving U.N. officials.
Sheri Yan, 60, was a Global Sustainability Foundation's chief executive, and a participant of the alleged conspiracy to bribe John Ashe, former General Assembly president.
Yan admitted that beginning of 2012, she has agreed with others to pay Ashe, who was also taking the role of U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda to influence officials in Antigua and the United Nations to support businessmen's interests. Anitgua's prime minister at the time had also taken part in the scheme, sharing with Ashe a portion of the bribe payments.
"While I was doing these things, I knew that they were wrong," Yan said through a Mandarin interpreter, as cited by France 24.
The guilty plea by Yan comes less than a week after Heidi Hong Piao, former finance director at the foundation, has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities in the ongoing investigation.
Both women were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges over a multi-year scheme to pay more than $1.3 million bribes to Ashe. The office of Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, filed in a complaint in October that more than $800,000 worth of bribes were paid to Ashe coming from various Chinese businessmen. The bribes were arranged through Yan and Piao, prosecutors revealed as per New York Times.
Yan will be sentenced on April 29, said judge Vernon Broderick of Federal District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday. Yan faces legal charges of maximum 10 years imprisonment. However, Yan's plea agreement have come to terms under judicial decision and the defense that the applicable sentence would be roughly 6 to 7 years.
Meanwhile, Ashe, 61, has pleaded not guilty. To date, the former high official has only been charged with tax fraud as prosecutors stated that said diplomatic immunity may preclude any bribery charges. However, the authorities said they would further the investigation and would likely bring more charges.
