Kenya linked to corrupt dealings in the UN

Kenya is at the center of a Ksh 136 million bribery scam involving former United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) President John Ashe, who has been charged with corruption in the U.S.

Ashe was charged together with five others for taking bribes from a Chinese billionaire businessman to facilitate him get real-estate contracts.

America’s FBI and prosecutors have named Kenya among countries that backed real-estate deals supported by Ashe.

The former UNGA boss is said to have set up meetings between the Chinese real-estate developer with government officials in Kenya and his home country Antigua to land big development contracts.

Ashe is also alleged to have introduced an unnamed Chinese tycoon interested in striking deals with the Interior Ministry to a Kenyan official at the UN in November 2013 to facilitate business deals in Nairobi.

Media reports in the U.S. and the United Kingdom (UK) did not indicate which Kenyan government officials were involved in the scam.

Ashe, who is from Antigua and Barbuda, is the highest ranking UN official to be charged with corruption and adds to the list of scandals that have rocked the global body in recent times.