MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Ashe, 61, died of a heart attack on Wednesday afternoon, according to the newspaper.
John Ashe served as President of the UN General Assembly between September 2013 and September 2014. The position in which he served allowed him to allegedly perform official actions for businesspeople from China and Antigua and Barbuda.
In October 2015, Ashe, a former UN ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, and several other individuals, were charged in a $1.3-million bribery scheme. Ashe pleaded not guilty.
In January, former finance director at Global Sustainability Foundation, Heidi Hong Piao (Park), and chief executive of the New-York based NGO Sheri Yan pleaded guilty to money laundering and bribery in the Ashe case.
Francis Lorenzo, a suspended deputy UN ambassador from the Dominican Republic, pleaded guilty in March.
Ashe was also allegedly bribed by Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng. Ng’s assistant Jeff Yin has pleaded not guilty in the case.
