Story highlights Former president of the U.N. General Assembly is accused of taking bribes

Prosecutors say he was bribed by man who wanted to build a U.N. conference center in China

(CNN) John Ashe, a former president of the U.N. General Assembly, a billionaire real estate developer and three others were indicted Tuesday in an alleged bribery scheme.

The indictment names Ashe, 61, a former U.N. ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda and General Assembly president from September 2013 to September 2014.

A Chinese businessman, 67-year-old Ng Lap Seng, who paid more than $500,000 in bribes to Ashe, according to a complaint , was also indicted. Ng has been jailed since last month on charges of lying about $4.5 million in cash he allegedly brought into the United States.

Ng wanted to build a multibillion-dollar U.N. conference center in Macau, China, prosecutors said. In return, Ashe submitted a document in support of the conference center to the the United Nations.

Prosecutors said Ashe also took more than $800,000 in bribes from various Chinese businessmen to support business deals in Antigua. Ashe shared the bribe money with a former prime minister of Antigua, the complaint said.

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