US accuses former president of the UN General Assembly and another 5 corruption

NEW YORK (Reuters) - US authorities arrested a former president of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on Tuesday for involvement in a comprehensive corruption scheme involving a billionaire real estate in Macau and four others defendants.

John Ashe, Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations that was

president in 2013, he was accused in a complaint filed in New York, received over $ 500,000 in bribery Ng Lap Seng, who wanted to build a conference center of billions of dollars to UN sponsorship in Macau.

In return, Ashe said the Secretary-General of the United Nations that the center needed to be raised, says the complaint, which arose in the wake of arrests of Ng and his assistant, Jeff Yin, last month on charges separately.

The complaint also accused Francis Lorenzo, who was deputy ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the UN, Shiwei Yan, chief executive of a New York nonprofit entity not mentioned, and Heidi Hong Piao, its chief financial officer, who according to the complaint paid 20 thousand dollars monthly for Ashe perform the function of "honorary president".

The charges will be presented on Tuesday at a news conference with the Attorney General of Manhattan, Preet Bharara.

Lorenzo's lawyer had no comment to make immediately about the charges. Representatives of the other defendants arrested on the morning of Tuesday were not immediately identified.

The complaint also claims that Ashe received more than $ 800,000 in bribes from Chinese businessmen to support their interests at the UN and in Antigua, and he transferred some of the money to the then Prime Minister of Antigua.

Between 2012 and 2014, Ashe deposited more than $ 3 million of foreign governments and authorities in two major US banks accounts, says the complaint.

The case came to light after the arrest and Ng Yin on September 19 for lying to say that the $ 4.5 million that brought China to the United States between 2013 and 2015 were intended to bets or to acquire works of art, antiques or real estate.

The presidency of the UN General Assembly is a ceremonial position held for one year and paid by the host country.