John Ashe walks at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial after paying flower tribute at Rajghat in New Delhi March 21, 2014. (REUTERS)
New York:
Former UN General Assembly president John Ashe, who was indicted on Tuesday by US authorities on charges of accepting more than a million dollars in bribes from Chinese real estate developers, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court to tax fraud charges.
Ashe, from Antigua and Barbuda, president of the assembly from September 2013 to September 2014, is accused of accepting money to promote the construction of a UN conference center in Macau.
Four other people who were also charged on Tuesday, including the main suspect in the corruption ring, Ng Lap Seng, a wealthy Chinese real estate developer also pleaded not guilty in the case.
61-year-old Ashe is charged with accepting more than $1.3 million from 2011 to 2014 from a group of five people, according to the indictment filed by Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the southern district of New York.
Ashe is accused of hiding more than $1.2 million in his income tax return.
Ng Lap Seng, a developer from the Chinese territory Macau who has a $1.8 billion net worth and who prosecutors say paid $500,000 in bribes to Ashe, pleaded not guilty to charges including bribery and money laundering.
Other defendants who pleaded not guilty include Francis Lorenzo, a now-suspended deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic; Jeff Yin, Ng's assistant; and Sheri Yan, who had been chief executive of Global Sustainability Foundation.
Their arraignment came after a federal grand jury indicted the defendants on Tuesday, adding new charges in a case first announced October 6.
Prosecutors said Ng, who heads Sun Kian Ip Group, through intermediaries paid Ashe over $500,000 to seek U.N. support of a U.N.-sponsored conference centre in Macau.
Ashe also received over $800,000 from Chinese businessmen to support their interests within the U.N. and Antigua, prosecutors said. They said those payments were arranged through Yan, 56, and Heidi Park, who was Global Sustainability Foundation's finance director.
Park, 52, was not among those indicted on Tuesday, though she remains in custody and the deadline to indict her has not expired.
Ng, 68, and Yin, 29, were arrested on September 19 in an earlier case for allegedly making false statements to customs officials about why they brought $4.5 million into the United States from China.
Over the objections of prosecutors, a federal magistrate judge last Friday said Ng could be released on $50 million bond and be placed under house arrest under 24-hour watch by two private security guards.
At Thursday's hearing, prosecutors sought to appeal that decision, saying Ng should not as a wealthy defendant be allowed to establish a "private jail" at a $3.6 million luxury apartment in Manhattan and calling him a flight risk.
"If he hits Chinese soil, he will never return," said Daniel Richenthal, a prosecutor.
But while U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick said certain conditions should be made tougher, he declined to order Ng detained further.
Ashe, from Antigua and Barbuda, president of the assembly from September 2013 to September 2014, is accused of accepting money to promote the construction of a UN conference center in Macau.
Four other people who were also charged on Tuesday, including the main suspect in the corruption ring, Ng Lap Seng, a wealthy Chinese real estate developer also pleaded not guilty in the case.
61-year-old Ashe is charged with accepting more than $1.3 million from 2011 to 2014 from a group of five people, according to the indictment filed by Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the southern district of New York.
Ashe is accused of hiding more than $1.2 million in his income tax return.
Ng Lap Seng, a developer from the Chinese territory Macau who has a $1.8 billion net worth and who prosecutors say paid $500,000 in bribes to Ashe, pleaded not guilty to charges including bribery and money laundering.
Other defendants who pleaded not guilty include Francis Lorenzo, a now-suspended deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic; Jeff Yin, Ng's assistant; and Sheri Yan, who had been chief executive of Global Sustainability Foundation.
Their arraignment came after a federal grand jury indicted the defendants on Tuesday, adding new charges in a case first announced October 6.
Prosecutors said Ng, who heads Sun Kian Ip Group, through intermediaries paid Ashe over $500,000 to seek U.N. support of a U.N.-sponsored conference centre in Macau.
Ashe also received over $800,000 from Chinese businessmen to support their interests within the U.N. and Antigua, prosecutors said. They said those payments were arranged through Yan, 56, and Heidi Park, who was Global Sustainability Foundation's finance director.
Park, 52, was not among those indicted on Tuesday, though she remains in custody and the deadline to indict her has not expired.
Ng, 68, and Yin, 29, were arrested on September 19 in an earlier case for allegedly making false statements to customs officials about why they brought $4.5 million into the United States from China.
Over the objections of prosecutors, a federal magistrate judge last Friday said Ng could be released on $50 million bond and be placed under house arrest under 24-hour watch by two private security guards.
At Thursday's hearing, prosecutors sought to appeal that decision, saying Ng should not as a wealthy defendant be allowed to establish a "private jail" at a $3.6 million luxury apartment in Manhattan and calling him a flight risk.
"If he hits Chinese soil, he will never return," said Daniel Richenthal, a prosecutor.
But while U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick said certain conditions should be made tougher, he declined to order Ng detained further.
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