A Macanese billionaire who allegedly bribed UN officials to win their endorsement of a conference center was yesterday to be indicted, a US federal prosecutor told a judge who had agreed to release the developer on US$50 million bail.
Prosecutors said Ng Lap Seng (吳立勝), 68, chairman of the Sun Kian Ip Group, paid hundreds of thousands of US dollars to former UN General Assembly president John Ashe and Francis Lorenzo, a Dominican Republic ambassador to the UN.
Ng is one of six people arrested earlier this month in connection with two bribery schemes at the UN. Ashe and Lorenzo were also charged.
Assistant US Attorney Daniel Richenthal on Monday told US Magistrate Judge Kevin Nathaniel Fox in a letter that prosecutors would file an indictment of Ng yesterday, which would put the case before a federal judge.
“This is not a surprise,” Benjamin Brafman, Ng’s lawyer, said in an e-mail. “They have been threatening an indictment for weeks. Whether by complaint or indictment, Mr Ng is presumed innocent and we have every reason to believe that he will ultimately be vindicated.”
Fox on Friday last week agreed to grant Ng’s release on bail and have him stay at a luxury Manhattan apartment near the UN under the watch of private armed security guards.
Richenthal objected, arguing Ng has “vast” resources to help him flee to China, which does not have an extradition treaty with the US.
Fox agreed to delay Ng’s release until 2pm Monday in order to give the government a chance to appeal his decision to a federal judge.
Richenthal said Ng and his lawyer now have agreed to delay the release until the close of business tomorrow.
Once Ng is indicted, he is to enter a plea, and if it is not guilty then the case would move toward a trial.
Ng was arrested last month, accused in a separate case of bringing US$4.5 million into the US and lying about its purpose to authorities.
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