Billionaire calls his US arrest politically motivated
Print Edition
A CHINESE billionaire arrested in a United Nations bribery scandal asserted in court papers that charges against him were politically motivated, a way for the United States to block his construction of a major UN conference center in Macau and slow the progress of Chinese influence over developing nations.
Lawyers for Ng Lap Seng said in papers filed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court that charges brought against the 68-year-old Macau businessman last fall were based on a “fundamentally unsound” and unprecedented criminal prosecution.
They said the charges had derailed any plans for a permanent conference center in Macau that would serve southern hemisphere nations.
“There is every reason to believe that the UN has, indeed, completely shelved the idea of such a center, which would have given developing nations a permanent meeting venue in China. The US geopolitical interest in slowing the progress of Chinese influence over developing nations has been achieved,” the lawyers wrote.
Ng is free on US$50 million bail with a requirement he be guarded round-the-clock by a private security at a luxury Manhattan apartment. Ng, who before his arrest sat on the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an adviser to the government, is scheduled to face trial in January.
Ng and his assistant Jeff Yin were charged last year for engaging in a bribery scheme with former UN General Assembly President John Ashe. Prosecutors said Ng gave Ashe more than US$500,000 in bribes so the diplomat, among other things, would seek UN support for the conference center, which Ng’s company Sun Kian Ip Group would develop.
Classified documents and the authorities’ focus on whether an associate of Ng was a Chinese agent demonstrated the US government’s motives in charging him, Ng’s lawyers wrote.
“All these circumstances strongly suggest that the prosecution of Mr. Ng is not, and never was, about policing the integrity of UN operations,” they wrote.
Ashe, a former UN ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda who served as General Assembly president from 2013 to 2014, died in June while awaiting trial.
Ng’s lawyers said his prosecution was designed to prevent the establishment of the Macau center.
They also argued in the court papers that the United States was improperly interfering with the customs and operations of the United Nations.
“Not only has the prosecution intruded into UN affairs, it threatens to import American sensibilities and customs into a uniquely international environment that has its own set of customs and expectations,” the lawyers said.
Ng’s lawyers said the FBI’s questions focussed less on bribery and more on identifying an individual whom Ng called his partner and determining whether Ng knew whether that person was a Chinese agent.
As part of their court submission, the lawyers submitted a transcript of an interview the FBI conducted with Ng after his arrest. In it, Ng was asked about a photograph on the internet of him with US President Barack Obama. Ng said he was introduced to Obama by a friend from Taiwan.
Ng also said in the transcript that his primary reason for trips to the United Nations was to promote the construction of the UN center in Macau.
“My goal is to build this exhibition center, the largest in the world,” Ng is quoted as saying.
A spokesman for US prosecutors declined comment.
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