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

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Former Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping poses for a photo at the Hong Kong offices of the China Energy Fund Committee in Wan Chai. Photo: SCMP

Published: 7:45am, 21 Nov 2017Updated: 2:05pm, 22 Nov 2017

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.

The company was not identified in the announcement or the complaint filed in New York federal district court, but details in the complaint pointed to CEFC China Energy, the Shanghai-based rising star of China’s energy industry.

Former Home Affairs Secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping poses for photo with the South China Morning Post in August. Photo: SCMP/ Tony Cheung

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.