Ng Lap Seng blev anholdt i New York i september ifølge retsdokumenter.
Ifølge anklagen mod John Ashe har den 61-årige diplomat fået mindst en halv million dollar af Seng og skal også have modtaget bestikkelse fra fire andre.
NEW YORK, 6 October 2015 (UN News Service): Top United Nations officials expressed Tuesday that they are “shocked” and “deeply troubled” to learn about the “very serious allegations” announced by United States’ federal prosecutors against John Ashe, former President of the UN General Assembly.
Prior to his appointment as leader of the 68th session of the General Assembly in September 2013, John Ashe had been Antigua and Barbuda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
He was arrested earlier Tuesday in New York.
The spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said these allegations “go to the heart of the integrity of the United Nations.”
Asked about whether the UN was involved in the United States attorney’s investigation, Mr. Dujarric said the UN was not informed of the case until it was featured in the press.
“Obviously, if we are contacted by the relevant US authorities we will cooperate with them,” he added.
Lykketoft chokeret
Meanwhile, the current President of the General Assembly’s 70th session and former Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Mogens Lykketoft, held a press conference Tuesday, during which he underlined that he can only echo the UN Spokesperson.
“Coming from a country which is consistently number one on the world transparency index and having served for 34 years in Danish politics without being rich, I certainly am shocked about it and I think that the United Nations and its representatives should be held to the highest standards of transparency and ethics,” Mr. Lykketoft said.
He added that when he took office as the President of the UN General Assembly on 15 September, he committed himself to uphold these principles during his tenure, as “corruption has no place at the United Nations or anywhere else.”
John Ashe fra den caribiske ø-gruppe var præsident for generalforsamlingen fra 2013 til 2014 og således ikke Lykketofts umiddelbare forgænger.
Også manden lige før Lykketoft i søgelyset
Han hedder Sam Kutesa og er en fremstående politiker og jurist fra Uganda.
66-årige Kutesa var i sin tid udsat for en kampagne, hvor 15.822 personer skrev under på, at de modsatte sig hans udnævnelse til præsident for generalforsamlingen i New York fra 2014 til 2015.
Modstanden skyldtes hans støtte til Ugandas drakoniske love mod seksuelle mindretal.
The Uganda-based “Black Star News” reported Wednesday, that Kutesa in the past has been linked to several high-profile corruption allegations including embezzlement (underslæb /bedrageri) of millions of dollars in public funds allocated for hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and kickbacks (penge under bordet) from a foreign oil company seeking concessions.
A US ambassador said his corruption was “egregious” (enestående /frygtelig) in a cable leaked by Wikileaks.
The Black Star News previously reported that Kutesa’s private company, Entebbe Handling Services (ENHAS), had been paid at least 29.2 million US dollar by the UN between 2008 to 2013 for handling cargo and luggage at Entebbe airport in Uganda and in Congo and South Sudan for UN peace keeping operations.
During that period Kutesa was Uganda’s foreign affairs minister, a position he still holds.
The UN declined to say whether Kutesa had revealed, or whether the world body knew, he was an ENHAS owner when his company was awarded the contracts.
