NEW YORK – A suspended United Nations diplomat has provided a glimpse of the seedier side of diplomacy during a week of testimony at a U.N. bribery trial.
Francis Lorenzo stepped off the witness stand Wednesday for the last time after testifying against Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng (ihng lap sihng).
The 69-year-old Ng has pleaded not guilty to charges that he paid bribes to Lorenzo and a former top U.N. official to try to win support to build a U.N. conference center in China.
Lorenzo testified Ng paid him $50,000 a month at times to push the ambitious multibillion-dollar project along.
Defense lawyer Tai Park asked Lorenzo why he never referred to money from Ng as bribes in dozens of meetings with prosecutors.
Lorenzo said he wasn't familiar with the term.
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