The United Nations bribery scheme saw some light after the suspended ambassador from the Dominican Republic and former United Nations diplomat pleaded guilty in the scheme. The former ambassador has agreed to collaborate with the government to stand against his co-defendants, including a Chinese billionaire and a former U.N. General Assembly president.
Francis Lorenzo admitted to his participation in the UN bribery scheme in Manhattan Federal Court. He was charged of six offenses, including bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and tax counts, according to Yahoo. Lorenzo claimed that he accepted payments from Ng Lap Seng, a Chinese real estate developer and had helped in the payment of bribes. Lorenzo also said that some of the bribes were given to John Ashe, who was the General Assembly president between 2013 and 2014. Ashe served as the U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda in the previous years.
"I understand what I was doing, as I described it, was wrong," he said in court. Lorenzo said as he pleaded guilty in the UN bribery scheme in Manhattan court.
The prosecutors claimed that Ashe received bribes in exchange for his support to build a U.N.-sponsored conference center in Ng's hometown in Macau. Ng also paid the suspended ambassador and other foreign officials for the arrangement. As per Reuters, Lorenzo was the third defendant to plead guilty over the UN bribery scheme. Ashe reportedly received $1.3 million in bribes since the investigation was launched in October. Lorenzo and Ng's assistant, Jeff Yin received over $500,000 in payments.
"He's very remorseful for his conduct," Lawyer for Lorenzo, Brian Bieber said outside the court. He added that his client decided to plead guilty after the evidences were presented in court.
Sheri Yan, who was the Global Sustainability Foundation's chief executive, and Heidi Hong Piao, the foundation's finance director, were the first one who pleaded guilty over the UN bribery case in January. Both Ng and Ashe have pleaded not guilty. They are free on bail, Business Insider reports. The Chinese business tycoon however is confined in a Manhattan apartment under a 24-hour security.
After Lorenzo's trial proceeding, Ng's lawyers claimed that the former U.N. diplomat's plea doesn't affect their client's stance. They said Ng was determined to pursue that he's innocent over the UN bribery scheme case. Lorenzo's plea comes after U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick had announced that Lorenzo couldn't shield himself from the case because he's a U.S. citizen.
