UN ambassador testifies he didn't know what 'bribe' meant

"A suspended United Nations diplomat's testimony has provided a glimpse at the seedier side of international diplomacy as a Chinese billionaire stands trial on charges that he shared hundreds of thousands of dollars with ambassadors he thought could help him realize his dream to build a permanent center in China to serve less-advantaged countries.

Francis Lorenzo, 50, stepped off the witness stand Wednesday after testifying against Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng for over a week.

Ng, 69, has pleaded not guilty to charges he paid bribes to Lorenzo and a former top U.N. official to gain support to build a U.N. conference center in Macau. He remains confined to a Manhattan apartment on $50 million bail.

Lorenzo testified Ng paid him up to $50,000 monthly to push the ambitious multibillion-dollar project along and funneled another $300,000 to former U.N. General Assembly President John Ashe, who was charged in the case before he died last year in an accident at home.

Over several days, Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Zolkind elicited from Lorenzo an unsavory depiction of the ease with which Lorenzo and Ashe accepted and sometimes solicited tens of thousands of dollars to supplement modest salaries as ambassadors.

Within months of meeting Ng in late 2009, Lorenzo testified, he agreed to supplement his $72,000 salary at the U.N. with $20,000 a month as president of Ng's new not-for-profit, South South News.

'Did you have any experience in media or in news reporting?' Zolkind asked.

'No,' Lorenzo said.

He said at Ashe's request, he helped arrange a no-show job that paid Ashe's wife $2,500 monthly. He said Ashe asked Ng to fund a family trip to New Orleans and to pay for construction of a basketball court at his home. In 2014, Ashe asked Ng for a contribution to help his presidency and Ng sent $200,000, Lorenzo said.

After Ashe solicited a $20,000 contribution to fund a U.N. reception, Lorenzo passed along only $16,000 to Ashe..."