Update - Former Top Un Official Charged İn Bribery Scheme

U.S. authorities on Tuesday charged a former UN General Assembly president for participating in a broad bribery scheme that also involves a prominent Chinese billionaire.



In a complaint filed in a New York federal court, John Ashe, who once headed the UN General Assembly, is accused of taking more than $1.3 million in bribes from five Chinese businessmen including Ng Lap Seng, a real estate developer based in the Chinese territory of Macau.



Ashe, who is from Antigua and Barbuda, performed official actions for the businessmen within the UN and his home country in exchange for bribes, the complaint said.



"If proven, today's charges will confirm that the cancer of corruption that plagues too many local and state governments infects the United Nations as well," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.



"As alleged, for Rolexes, bespoke suits, and a private basketball court, John Ashe, the 68th President of the UN General Assembly, sold himself and the global institution he led," he added.



In one instance, $500,000 was wired into Ashe's account by Ng, who was seeking to build a multibillion dollar, UN-sponsored conference center in Macau, the complaint alleged.



In exchange, Ashe submitted an official document to UN chief Ban Ki-moon that claimed there was a need to build the center, it added.



Ban was "shocked and deeply troubled" to learn of the "serious allegations", his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.



Dujarric said current General Assembly head, Mogens Lykketoft, would hold a news conference later Tuesday to address the issue that "goes at the heart of the integrity of the United Nations".



According to the criminal complaint, Ashe received bribes in various forms, including cash and payments to third parties, to cover his personal expenses, such as a family vacation and construction of a private basketball court at his house in New York.



"Ashe also transferred the bribery money to his personal bank accounts, primarily through checks he wrote to himself for a purported salary", read the document.



Ashe, who was arrested Tuesday and is being held, was elected to lead the General Assembly's in 2013 while serving in the dual capacity as his country's permanent representative to the UN and the World Trade Organization, according to the UN



The charges reportedly came as part of a widening probe into Ng, who was arrested by FBI agents in New York last month and charged with bringing more than $4.5 million in cash to the U.S. under false pretenses.



Ng is said to have close relations to the Chinese government and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a senior political advisory body. - New York