Former UN head arrested for bribery

Court documents show that John Ashe purchased 2 Rolex watches worth $54,000, took out a $40,000-lease for a new BMW and ordered expensive tailored suits from Hong Kong worth $59,000 Records reveal Ashe received $800,000 from Chinese businessmen to advance

NEW YORK—A former president of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with taking $1.3 million in bribes from Chinese businessmen in a corruption scandal that stunned the world body.

UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said he was “shocked and deeply troubled” by the charges, which were unprecedented in the UN’s 70-year history.

Ashe, who served as assembly president for a year from September 2013, allegedly took bribes in exchange for backing a proposed UN conference center in Macau promoted by wealthy Chinese developer Ng Lap Seng.

“Among other things, Ashe accepted over $500,000” from Ng who was “seeking to build a multi-billion dollar, UN-sponsored conference center in Macau,” the complaint said.

New York police arrested the 61-year-old former UN ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda at his home in Dobbs Ferry outside New York and three others were detained in New York early Tuesday.

Details of Ashe’s luxurious lifestyle listed in court documents showed that he purchased two Rolex watches worth $54,000, took out a $40,000-lease for a new BMW and ordered expensive tailored suits from Hong Kong worth $59,000.

Ashe received $800,000 from Chinese businessmen to advance their interests at the United Nations and with the Antigua government, the documents said. Antigua’s prime minister allegedly received a cut of the bribe money.

The bribe payments also went to pay for family vacations and the construction of a basketball court at Ashe’s house.