Lawyer of accused Macau tycoon Ng Lap-seng plays down guilty plea in UN bribery case in US
Heidi Hong Piao’s decision to admit she helped funnel payments to former UN Assembly president ‘won’t affect billionaire’s defence strategy’
The lawyer of Macau tycoon Ng Lap-seng has played down the guilty plea by businesswoman Heidi Hong Piao in a bribery case involving a former United Nations Assembly president.
“Her plea has nothing to do with Mr Ng’s case,” Benjamin Brafman said, when asked whether his defence strategy would change and if Ng maintained his innocence. Piao, 52, former finance director at a New York foundation, who was accused of taking part in a scheme to bribe a former UN General Assembly president, John Ashe, was the first defendant to plead guilty.
In Manhattan federal court on Thursday, Piao, who pleaded guilty to five charges, said Ashe received payments to attend a conference in his official UN capacity.
Prosecutors had already said that Ashe received US$200,000 to attend a conference hosted by a Chinese real estate developer.
A forum involving the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation was organised last year in Macau. One of Ng’s companies sponsored the event.
Some 200 delegates from 50 countries attended the conference at a Cotai hotel. Among them was Ng – a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference with high-level connections to Washington – Ashe and Francis Lorenzo, a former UN deputy ambassador from the Dominican Republic.