Francis Lorenzo, an assistant ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, announced yesterday, Wednesday 16 March 2016 that he was reversing his plea and accepting an offer from the New York federal prosecutor in return for cooperating with the investigation. Lorenzo, 48, remains out on US$2 million bail. He originally pleaded “not guilty” to the six counts in the indictment that was submitted in October 2015, accusing him of conspiracy, bribery and money laundering.
Judge Vernon Broderick set the next hearing for 8 July 2016. The former president of the UN General assembly in 2013-2014, John Ashe, who represented Antigua and Barbuda and another five people are also involved in the case.
A contractor, Ng Lap Seng, who was arrested in September 2015, is at the center of the case. He is accused of bringing in US$4.5 million illegally to the United States. According to the investigation, Lap Seng made two payments of US$200,000 and US$300,000 to Ashe in exchange for Ashe promoting his proposal to UN general secretary Ban Ki-Moon. The funds are related to the construction of a conference center in Macau, a project valued at several billion dollars. Those payments were channeled, allegedly, by two of the accused, including Lorenzo, who admitted in court to accepting payments for himself. He admitted that accepting them had been a mistake.
