NG Lap Seng | Assistant Yin pleads guilty in UN bribery case

Ng Lap Seng (left)

A former assistant to a Chinese billionaire charged in a United Nations bribery scheme pleaded guilty to a single tax charge last week, the Associated Press reported.

The plea to a conspiracy charge by Jeff C. Yin came with an agreement by Yin and the government that a sentence of less than 30 months in prison was likely. He is free on bail and the sentencing is set for July 21.

As previously reported by the Times, the plea deal has been on the table and under consideration by Yin and his lawyers for around two weeks.

Having taken the deal and pleaded guilty in the Manhattan federal court last week, Yin has admitted to failing to pay taxes on a roughly USD54,000 salary for two years.

Yin earned the salary from a United Nations-focused media company, called South-South News. According to Reuters, he admitted last week to having requested that the company pay him in the form of cash and checks made out to “petty cash”.

“Between 2013 and 2015, I agreed with others to not pay taxes to the IRS,” he said in court, according to Reuters.

After two weeks of negotiations, the agreement between prosecutors and the defendant left the 31-year-
old without admitting to have bribed anyone.

Instead he will plead guilty only to tax evasion and will not appeal a prison sentence of 30 months or less.

The same cannot be said for his former employer, Ng Lap Seng, who is still standing trial over bribery charges.

Yin was chief assistant to Macau billionaire Ng Lap Seng when both were arrested in September 2015 over several charges including attempting to bribe UN officials, money laundering and tax evasion.

Ng is accused of paying USD500,000 in bribes to former UN General Assembly President John Ashe, who died in June under mysterious circumstances while awaiting trial.

The objective behind the alleged bribery was to secure Ashe’s support for a U.N.-
backed conference center in Macau, which would be constructed by Ng’s real estate company, Sun Kian Ip Group, and would allegedly serve as his legacy in the MSAR.

The real estate tycoon is awaiting trial next month on bribery charges and has pleaded not guilty. DB