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A suspended Dominican UN diplomat has testified in a US court that a Chinese billionaire paid him up to US$50,000 monthly in return for help securing a contract to build a UN conference center. Francis Lorenzo, the former UN deputy foreign minister from the Dominican Republic, also confirmed that billionaire Ng Lap Jeng funneled a further US$300,000 to the former UN General Assembly president John Ashe.<\/p>\n
Between 2010 and 2015, Ng paid the two UN officials approximately US$2 million in bribes, who in return secured approval for the multibillion-dollar construction of a conference center in Ng\u2019s native Macau that would work with developing countries.<\/p>\n
Lorenzo testified, however, that Ng planned to build the center to boost the value of a related complex of apartments, offices, a casino and hotel, which he also intended to develop.<\/p>\n
Lorenzo reportedly explained how, within months of first meeting Ng in 2009, the billionaire agreed to supplement Lorenzo\u2019s US$72,000 UN salary with a monthly payment of US$20,000 to serve as president of Ng\u2019s new media outlet South-South News.<\/p>\n
Later, Ng reportedly began paying him an additional US$30,000 per month to push through UN approval for the center\u2019s construction. After it was approved, the billionaire then bought a US$3.2 million apartment in Manhattan for Lorenzo to live in.<\/p>\n
Lorenzo also admitted to laundering the proceeds through bank accounts in the names of his siblings in the Dominican Republic to avoid paying US taxes.<\/p>\n
When asked why he never referred to this money as bribes in meetings with prosecutors, he supposedly replied: “I wasn\u2019t familiar with the term.”<\/p>\n
Lorenzo, who pleaded guilty, faces up to 78 years in prison.<\/p>\n