Former Hong Kong home secretary Patrick Ho arrested in US over alleged Africa bribery scheme
Ho, who is in US custody, and the former foreign minister of Senegal are accused of arranging multimillion-dollar bribes on behalf of a Chinese energy company linked to the Belt and Road Initiative
US authorities have arrested Hong Kong’s former home affairs secretary and the ex-foreign minister of Senegal for allegedly leading a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme in Africa on behalf of a top Chinese energy company, with some deals supposedly arranged in the halls of the United Nations.
US officials announced Monday that former Senegalese top diplomat Cheikh Gadio and Hong Kong’s Patrick Ho Chi-ping sent huge bribes to high-level officials in Chad and Uganda to secure business advantages for the Chinese company.
CEFC China Energy has blown onto the scene in just a few years, taking major stakes in global projects, including a 14 per cent chunk of Russia’s Rosneft, and playing an important role in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious One Belt One Road initiative.
In the Justice Department complaint, the two men allegedly offered a US$2 million bribe to the president of Chad “to obtain valuable oil rights,” and a US$500,000 bribe to an account designated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda, who had recently completed his term as the President of the UN General Assembly.
