Ban Ki-moon's brother, nephew charged with bribery in US

Two relatives of former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have been charged with bribery in the United States, in yet another public embarrassment for Ban, 72, who is seeking the South Korean presidency.

The two are Ban’s younger brother, Ban Ki-sang, and his nephew, Bahn Joo-hyun, according to reports.

They have been accused in New York of offering money to a Middle Eastern official. Prosecutors claim bribes were given to entice the official to use government funding to buy their building project.

Prosecutors said that in early 2013 the South Korean construction firm Keangnam, of which Ban’s younger brother was an executive, was faced with growing debt and sought to sell a building complex in Vietnam known as Landmark 72.

In a 39-page indictment unsealed on Tuesday (local time) at a Manhattan courthouse, according to the BBC, prosecutors alleged that he and his son Joo Hyan "Dennis" Bahn, a Manhattan real estate agent, stood to make millions of dollars in commission on the sale, valued at up to $800 million.

According to reports, the two men paid millions of dollars in bribes and tried to trade on the prominence of Ban to persuade a Middle Eastern official from an unnamed country to arrange a purchase of the complex by that country's sovereign wealth fund.

According to the BBC, the two even tried to secure a meeting to discuss the deal with the unnamed Middle Eastern country's head of state during his visit to New York for an annual U.N. General Assembly meeting.

“This alleged bribery and fraud scheme offends all who believe in honest and transparent business,” Manhattan Attorney General Preet Bharara was quoted as saying in a BBC report. “And it stands as a reminder that those who bring international corruption to New York City, as alleged here, will face the scrutiny of American law enforcement.”

Meanwhile, the former U.N. chief is implicated in a bribery scandal in Korea. He allegedly received bribes of $230,000 from Park Yeon-cha, a South Korean entrepreneur, when he served as South Korea’s foreign minister. Ban has strongly denied the allegations.

Ban will return home on Thursday and is expected to declare his bid for the South Korean presidency soon.