潘基文兩名親屬遭到賄賂指控

US prosecutors have accused two relatives of Ban Ki-moon, the former UN secretary-general, of a bribery plot linked to Vietnam’s tallest building and a South Korean company embroiled in a corruption scandal.

聯合國(UN)前任祕書長潘基文(Ban Ki-moon)的兩名親戚遭到美國檢察機關的指控，原因是與越南最高建築及一家捲入腐敗醜聞的韓國企業有關的賄賂情節。

Joo Hyun-bahn, Mr Ban’s nephew, denied the charges and was granted bail at a court hearing in New York after he and his father, Ban Ki-sang, were indicted on Tuesday. Ban Ki-sang, who is Ban Ki-moon’s brother, has not been arrested and could not immediately be reached for comment.

潘基文的侄子潘柱賢（Bahn Joo-hyun，音譯）否認了相關指控並在紐約一場法庭聽證中被允許保釋。此前，他和他的父親潘基相（Ban Ki-sang，音譯）在週二受到了起訴。潘基相是潘基文的弟弟，他並未遭到逮捕，不過記者無法馬上聯繫上他以置評此事。

The indictment came just 10 days after Ban Ki-moon, who is not accused of any involvement in the affair, ended a decade leading the UN.

就在這一起訴發生十天前，潘基文剛剛結束了對聯合國十年的領導。潘基文自身並未被指控與該事件有任何關係。

He has been touted as a possible candidate for the presidency of South Korea, where contenders have already begun jockeying following the impeachment of Park Geun-hye amid a vast corruption scandal.

目前，潘基文已被多方宣傳爲韓國總統的可能候選人。在韓國，自朴槿惠(Park Geun-hye)因一宗巨大的腐敗醜聞而遭彈劾之後，競爭總統的人選已開始明爭暗鬥。

US authorities claim Mr Ban’s relatives conspired in 2014 to funnel $2.5m via a middleman to an unnamed Middle Eastern official. The official was supposed to convince his country’s sovereign wealth fund to buy the Landmark 72 tower in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, for $800m.

美國當局聲稱，2014年潘基文的兩名親戚曾密謀通過中間人向一位不知名的中東官員輸送250萬美元。原本用意是讓這名官員說服該國主權財富基金斥資8億美元，買下越南首都河內的地標72(Landmark 72)大樓。

But the two alleged plotters were double-crossed by the middleman, Malcolm Harris, who did not have the relationship he claimed with the government official and simply pocketed an initial $500,000 downpayment, the indictment asserts.

不過，該起訴書聲稱，這兩位涉嫌的謀劃者卻遭到這位名爲馬爾科姆?哈里斯(Malcolm Harris)的中間人的欺騙。哈里斯並不掌握所聲稱的與這位政府官員的關係，而只是把最初支付的50萬美元定金據爲己有。

Mr Harris, who has also been charged, used the money for a spending spree including the rental of a luxury penthouse apartment in Brooklyn, prosecutors allege. Mr Harris could not immediately be reached for comment.

檢察機關指控稱，同樣受到指控的哈里斯大肆揮霍了這筆錢，其中包括在布魯克林租用了一個豪華頂層公寓。記者無法馬上與哈里斯取得聯繫，以置評此事。

“This alleged conduct proves the adage that there is truly no honour among thieves,” said Leslie Caldwell, assistant attorney-general in the US justice department. “The indictment alleges that two defendants wanted to bribe a government official; instead they were defrauded by their co-defendant.”

美國司法部(DoJ)助理總檢察官萊斯利?考德威爾(Leslie Caldwell)表示：“這些涉嫌實施的行爲證明了那句諺語：小偷是沒有真正的節操的。起訴書聲稱，兩位被告想要賄賂政府官員，卻被他們的共同被告騙了。”

The former UN secretary-general’s brother was a senior executive at both Landmark 72 and Keangnam Enterprises, the Korean construction company that built and owned the skyscraper, US authorities allege. He wanted to arrange the sale because Keangnam had run into financial trouble from 2013, prosecutors claim.

美國當局指控稱，潘基文的這位弟弟是地標72大樓和京南企業(Keangnam Enterprises)的高管。京南企業是建造並擁有這棟摩天大樓的韓國建築公司。檢察機關聲稱，潘基相之所以希望安排這一轉讓，是因爲京南企業從2013年起遭遇了財務困境。

Mr Ban was “surprised” by reports of the indictments of his relatives and had no knowledge of the matter, according to a spokesperson quoted by Reuters news agency.

據路透社(Reuters)援引潘基文發言人的說法稱，潘基文對有關其親戚所受指控的報道感到“震驚”，並對此毫不知情。