Former Hong Kong home secretary Patrick Ho pleads not guilty in US court to offering US$2.9m in bribes to African presidents and ministers
January 2019 trial date tentatively set for Ho, who faces bribery and money laundering charges in New York in relation to his work for a Chinese oil firm
Former Hong Kong home affairs secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges brought by a US federal court after he was accused of offering bribes worth a total of US$2.9 million to prominent African politicians.
Ho was indicted by the Southern District of New York and faces eight bribery and money laundering charges related to pay-offs to government officials in Africa on behalf of a Chinese oil and gas company.
The court did not address the issue of bail for Ho. The defendant’s lawyers had requested that he be released on a US$10 million bond. That amount was increased from a US$1 million offer given after charges were brought against Ho in November. He has been in custody since.
New York judge Katherine Forrest has tentatively set the start of the trial for sometime in January 2019, and expects to firm up the date at the next pre-trial hearing set for February 2. Ho, dressed in wrinkled grey prison garb, did not address the court except to confirm with Forrest that he understood the charges against him.
The discovery phase of the case may take several months because it involves scores of mobile phones, computers, USB drives and other electronic devices seized by prosecutors, as well as “hundreds of thousands” of emails and attachments, prosecuting lawyer Douglas Zolkind told the court.