https://www.scmp.com/rss/325846/feed Patrick Ho Chi-ping is a former Hong Kong home affairs minister. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Former Hong Kong home affairs minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping has been removed from the city’s register of medical practitioners for 12 months as a result of his conviction in the United States over a multimillion-dollar bribery plot involving African leaders. The decision followed a disciplinary hearing at the Medical Council of Hong Kong on Tuesday morning that was held without the presence of the 71-year-old ophthalmologist-turned-politician. Ho was sentenced to 36 months in jail and fined... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3133049/former-hong-kong-home-affairs-minister-suspended-medical?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3133049/former-hong-kong-home-affairs-minister-suspended-medical?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 May 2021 08:46:33 +0000 The conviction of former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping for paying bribes to the presidents of Chad and Uganda in a United Nations-linked conspiracy was upheld Tuesday by an appeal court in New York. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled in the case of Ho, finding he was properly convicted by a jury in December 2018 of paying bribes to the African presidents. Ho’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Ho, 70, who is also an ophthalmologist and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3115766/us-appeal-court-upholds-conviction-ex-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3115766/us-appeal-court-upholds-conviction-ex-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Dec 2020 02:01:16 +0000 Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping may have walked free from a New York jail, but the ex-official, who emerged looking noticeably slimmer, still faces one key step before regaining his full freedom after returning home on Wednesday: quarantine. After spending seven hours in a testing centre near the Hong Kong International Airport, the 70-year-old was declared negative for Covid-19. As with any other returning resident, he will now observe 14-day’s isolation at home. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3088464/back-hong-kong-after-serving-us-prison-term-bribery-very?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3088464/back-hong-kong-after-serving-us-prison-term-bribery-very?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Jun 2020 11:18:10 +0000 Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping has landed in the city after serving his jail term in New York for a multimillion-dollar bribery plot involving top African leaders. Ho, 70, flew first from New York to Zurich, where he then boarded Swiss International Air Lines flight 138 to Hong Kong, crossing the city’s immigration checkpoint at about 8am on Wednesday. As with all arrivals, he was required to undergo a mandatory test for the coronavirus, a measure put in place months ago... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3088264/disgraced-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-returns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3088264/disgraced-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-returns?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jun 2020 13:16:42 +0000 Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping was released from a New York prison on Monday, after serving a jail term over a multimillion-dollar scheme to bribe top African leaders. The 70-year-old, who was jailed for 36 months and fined US$400,000 last year, was also expected to be deported because his passport had expired. The former secretary for home affairs – who claimed he was “the first of the sacrificial lambs” caught up in the US-China trade war – was given credit for the 16... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3088112/jailed-ex-hong-kong-official-patrick-ho-set-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3088112/jailed-ex-hong-kong-official-patrick-ho-set-be?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jun 2020 16:03:17 +0000 Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping acted as go-between for a former chief of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to meet President Xi Jinping in 2015, according to documents filed to a US appeal court. The private exchanges between Ho and Sam Kutesa, the current foreign minister of Uganda, who chaired the global body from 2014 to 2015, was revealed in Ho’s appeal application on Thursday to overturn his conviction in a multimillion-dollar bribery case involving top... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3018471/jailed-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-acted-go?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3018471/jailed-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-acted-go?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Jul 2019 09:00:09 +0000 In the final stage of Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s bribery trial in New York last week, the prosecution held back, the judge doled out a lenient sentence, and the convicted man made a tearful apology.  The sentencing of Hong Kong’s former home affairs secretary offered hope for both sides. The United States government raised the risk factor for companies looking to grow internationally by paying corrupt fixers for no-bid contracts. And a 69-year-old man, who erred but didn’t do grave harm to anyone in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3004083/supporters-huawei-should-make-real-case-against-us-and-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3004083/supporters-huawei-should-make-real-case-against-us-and-us?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Apr 2019 17:00:12 +0000 Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping has appealed against his conviction in the US over a multimillion-dollar bribery case. Ho’s legal team also applied for Ho to spend another six months in New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC), where he has been since his initial arrest, to prepare for the appeal, before going to a minimum-security out-of-town prison. The 69-year-old former home affairs minister given a three-year sentence and fined US$400,000 (HK$3.1 million) on... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3003727/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-appeals-against?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3003727/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-appeals-against?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Mar 2019 13:52:04 +0000 Former home affairs secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping is the first Hong Kong minister past or present to be sentenced to jail in an overseas jurisdiction. The pro-Beijing figure may remain the last, but the lessons of the downfall of a champion of the “Belt and Road Initiative” must be fully absorbed and never forgotten by companies and businessmen who go abroad in search of new markets and growth opportunities. A federal court judge in New York imprisoned Ho for three years after a jury found him... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3003386/fate-patrick-ho-sends-out-warning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3003386/fate-patrick-ho-sends-out-warning?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Mar 2019 13:25:19 +0000 Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping is expected to be sent to a minimum security prison after a US court sentenced him to three years in jail and fined him US$400,000 (HK$3.1 million) over a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving top African leaders. But Ho, 69, who delivered a tearful apology before the sentencing in a New York federal court, could be released as early as June next year. This was because Ho’s 16 months in custody was deducted, while his legal team... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3003231/disgraced-hong-kong-official-patrick-ho-gets-3-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3003231/disgraced-hong-kong-official-patrick-ho-gets-3-year?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2019 16:40:57 +0000 Patrick Ho Chi-ping has compared himself to arrested Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou and claimed he is the first “sacrificial lamb” in the United States’ trade war with China, as prosecutors call for him to be jailed for five years over a bribery conviction. Their recommendation, which also asked for a fine of US$400,000 (HK$3 million) to be imposed on the former Hong Kong official, was made in a 27-page submission to New York Southern District Court on Tuesday, a week before... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3002394/disgraced-hong-kong-official-patrick-ho-compares?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3002394/disgraced-hong-kong-official-patrick-ho-compares?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Mar 2019 12:59:49 +0000 Lawyers for Patrick Ho Chi-ping on Tuesday submitted nearly 150 letters to a US court, including from his movie star wife and 92-year-old mother, seeking leniency for the disgraced former Hong Kong minister who faces sentencing for a multimillion dollar bribery scheme in Africa. But as the defence team presented an array of personal references, Ho’s wife said that some of her husband’s old friends and allies had shied away from voicing their support over fears of offending the US... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3001557/patrick-hos-friends-and-family-beg-us-court-leniency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3001557/patrick-hos-friends-and-family-beg-us-court-leniency?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Mar 2019 11:51:56 +0000 Former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping made at least 116 trips to 30 countries in Central and North America, the Middle East and Africa in the three years before his arrest in 2017 for bribery and money laundering involving US$2.9 million. As the head of a think tank fully funded by Chinese oil giant CEFC China Energy from 2010, he pursued business and promoted what he called “public diplomacy” for China through a global network of contacts. Some of his trips to Africa, however, are now... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2177491/simple-corruption-or-public-diplomacy-chinas-ties-patrick-ho?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2177491/simple-corruption-or-public-diplomacy-chinas-ties-patrick-ho?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Dec 2018 02:18:21 +0000 The United Nations has encouraged its top officials to carry out their duties with the utmost integrity, after three former presidents of the UN General Assembly were named in the US$2.9 million bribery scandal of former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping. Replying to questions from the Post, Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN Secretary General António Guterres, said the world body had cooperated extensively with United States investigators in the case, “by making thousands of pages of documents... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2177309/un-secretary-generals-spokesman-says-top-officials-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2177309/un-secretary-generals-spokesman-says-top-officials-are?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Dec 2018 00:00:25 +0000 The colourful rise and fall of former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping seems to have ended in a New York federal courtroom, bar the sentencing next year. He can of course appeal against the unanimous guilty verdicts returned by a jury on seven of eight charges of corrupt and illegal business practices. But the lesson of the downfall of an advocate of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” – a trade expansion strategy – stands. It is an unambiguous reminder to Chinese companies and businessmen... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2177281/patrick-ho-case-should-serve-lesson-chinese-firms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2177281/patrick-ho-case-should-serve-lesson-chinese-firms?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Dec 2018 09:47:20 +0000 Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho wanted to use Chinese oil money to buy the influence of Republican members of Congress and conservative think tanks in the United States, court documents from his trial have revealed. Ho told CEFC China Energy boss Ye Jianming in 2014 that cultivating that relationship could prove beneficial in the run-up to the presidential election two years later, which was won by Donald Trump and is the focus of a major investigation into Russian meddling. In a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2177074/disgraced-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-wanted-use?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2177074/disgraced-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-wanted-use?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Dec 2018 15:15:30 +0000 The conviction of former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho in a New York court and the detention of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, in Canada have demonstrated the global reach of United States law enforcement. Ho was convicted for money laundering and bribery, pertaining to oil rights in Chad and Uganda, on behalf of CEFC China Energy under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a US law aimed at combating bribery of foreign officials. Huawei CFO ‘committed fraud to skirt... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2176998/explained-how-us-uses-anticorruption-laws-and-sanctions-police?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2176998/explained-how-us-uses-anticorruption-laws-and-sanctions-police?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Dec 2018 02:00:15 +0000 America is still the world’s policeman. At least that must be how it looks to Patrick Ho Chi-ping and Sabrina Meng Wanzhou. But US justice can be highly selective – just ask fugitive mainland billionaire Guo Wengui. A common thread in all three cases? It’s America’s multiple fronts against China. Ho, a former Hong Kong home affairs secretary, has been convicted in New York on seven of eight counts of bribery and money laundering over oil rights for CEFC China Energy in Chad and Uganda, involving... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2176720/long-and-political-arm-us-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2176720/long-and-political-arm-us-law?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2018 09:15:45 +0000 For seven days, nine women and three men have sat in a New York courtroom with former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping, listening to the evidence pile up against him on bribery and money-laundering charges involving US$2.9 million. The hand-picked jurors were there to weigh all that was presented to the Southern District Court of New York and decide Ho’s fate. On Wednesday, December 5, they decided he was guilty of seven of the eight counts he faced. One juror, an older woman with grey... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2176616/knitter-and-latecomer-12-jurors-who-decided-patrick-hos-fate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2176616/knitter-and-latecomer-12-jurors-who-decided-patrick-hos-fate?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2018 03:18:25 +0000 Patrick Ho Chi-ping was Hong Kong’s secretary for home affairs when he joined the Lunar New Year crowds at the famous Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin in February 2003, to pray for the city’s good luck and prosperity. Drawing from a stack of Kau Chim fortune sticks, which Taoist devotees believe can foretell events to come, he picked the Number 83 which predicted that everything was about to go bad. The temple’s fortune-teller who interpreted the stick told Ho he saw a boat struggling in turbulent... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2176612/musician-eye-surgeon-and-politician-who-married-actress?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2176612/musician-eye-surgeon-and-politician-who-married-actress?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2018 01:03:24 +0000 Former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping has been found guilty by a federal jury in New York of offering millions of dollars in bribes to African officials, and now faces jail time in the United States. On Wednesday afternoon, local time, Ho was convicted by the New York Southern District Court jury on seven of eight counts of bribery and money laundering over oil rights for Chinese conglomerate CEFC China Energy, in Chad and Uganda. “Expected. It’s like that,” Ho told Hong Kong reporters... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2176601/patrick-ho-convicted-us-court-7-8-counts-bribery-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2176601/patrick-ho-convicted-us-court-7-8-counts-bribery-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Dec 2018 19:15:45 +0000 The authorities needed only to show that Patrick Ho Chi-ping had intended or helped to offer bribes to African officials for jurors to find the former Hong Kong minister guilty of corruption, even if no payment or deal was made in the end, a US judge said on Tuesday local time. New York Southern District Court judge Loretta Preska was instructing the panel of nine women and three men, who are set to begin deliberations on Wednesday and may well determine the fate of Ho the same day, even though... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2176439/no-payment-needed-proof-patrick-ho-intended-offer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2176439/no-payment-needed-proof-patrick-ho-intended-offer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Dec 2018 03:53:04 +0000 A US prosecutor told a jury on Tuesday that “cheating” by former Hong Kong home affairs minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping undermined faith in the international market by lining the pockets of two African presidents to secure oil rights for a Chinese energy conglomerate. But a defence attorney for Ho called the prosecution “deeply flawed” and assailed the credibility of a Senegalese diplomat who had been indicted alongside Ho before agreeing to testify for the government. Ho has pleaded not guilty to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2176413/us-bribery-trial-ends-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2176413/us-bribery-trial-ends-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Dec 2018 22:15:15 +0000 Former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping could know as early as Wednesday (US time) whether he will be sent to an American jail on corruption charges. At his hearing on Monday, Ho, who served as the city’s home affairs minister from 2002 to 2007, exercised his legal right to remain silent and did not testify on the eight counts of bribery and money laundering he faces, sending the trial into its final phase. Ho is accused of offering US$2.9 million worth of bribes to officials in Chad and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2176238/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-could-know-early?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2176238/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-could-know-early?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Dec 2018 03:30:45 +0000 Lawyers for a former Hong Kong minister facing bribery charges in a New York court on Thursday attacked a former top African diplomat – a key prosecution witness – for making unfounded claims that Chinese companies struck deals worth up to US$20 million with the head of his nation. Cheikh Gadio, previously a defendant in the case against Patrick Ho Chi-ping, admitted he regretted making the claims, and that he “went too far”. It was Gadio’s third day of testimony at New York Southern District... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2175789/trial-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-hears-key?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2175789/trial-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-hears-key?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Nov 2018 07:23:10 +0000 Former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping apologised and said he was “impressed” by Chadian leader Idriss Deby’s rejection of his alleged US$2 million cash gift, a key prosecution witness told a New York court on the third day of Ho’s corruption trial. The president had felt insulted and disrespected by the alleged bribe, former Senegalese foreign minister Cheikh Gadio said in his second day of testimony. Gadio, 62, had told authorities about Ho’s cash offer soon after he was arrested last... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2175518/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-apologised-was?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2175518/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-apologised-was?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Nov 2018 05:19:21 +0000 A key prosecution witness in the corruption trial against former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping told a US court he had been “surprised and shocked” to learn that the gift boxes he helped the defendant deliver to the president of Chad had contained US$2 million. “I didn’t know there was cash in the gift boxes,” Cheikh Gadio, a former foreign minister of Senegal, said on Tuesday when questioned by prosecutor Douglas Zolkind. “I was surprised and shocked. Two million dollars in cash in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2175329/key-witness-ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-hos-bribery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2175329/key-witness-ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-hos-bribery?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Nov 2018 01:57:21 +0000 Twelve jurors with the fate of detained former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping in their hands have told a US court they hold no bias against China. They were responding to questions from New York District Court judge Loretta Preska as the bribery trial against Ho began on Monday, local time. The jurors and three substitutes – 11 women and four men – were pulled from a roster of 50 people from the Southern District of New York, where the court has jurisdiction, and vetted before the judge,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2175210/bribery-trial-former-hong-kong-home-affairs-minister-patrick?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2175210/bribery-trial-former-hong-kong-home-affairs-minister-patrick?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Nov 2018 07:31:31 +0000 This is a bribery case with no bribes, a lawyer for former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping told the court as his US$2.9 million corruption trial opened in New York on Monday. In addition to arguing that the sums Ho had given to various African officials on behalf of a Chinese energy giant were donations rather than bribes, the defence said that key prosecution witness Cheikh Gadio was testifying against Ho because he planned to run for president in Senegal. The trial began on Monday after... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2175119/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-hos-us29-million?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2175119/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-hos-us29-million?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Nov 2018 00:50:38 +0000 The New York trial of a former Hong Kong minister charged in a UN-linked bribery conspiracy is set to begin with jury selection on Monday. The trial of Patrick Ho Chi-ping begins a year after he was arrested on charges accusing him of paying bribes so a Chinese energy conglomerate could secure business advantages. He has been held without bail. His lawyer has said Ho was looking forward to clearing his name. Ho was once Hong Kong’s home affairs minister. Ho has insisted he is not guilty of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2174926/bribery-trial-set-begin-hong-kong-businessman-patrick-ho-chi-ping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2174926/bribery-trial-set-begin-hong-kong-businessman-patrick-ho-chi-ping?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Nov 2018 19:05:23 +0000 A US district judge has ruled that jurors in the coming bribery trial of former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping will hear evidence related to allegations that Ho sold weapons to Libya, Qatar, and South Sudan in 2015, one of several setbacks his defence team suffered in a final pretrial hearing on Wednesday. US District Judge Loretta Preska also permitted federal prosecutors to call to the stand Cheikh Gadio, formerly a co-defendant in Ho’s case, who will testify that Ho and the Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2173291/jurors-patrick-hos-bribery-trial-will-hear-accounts-arms-sales-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2173291/jurors-patrick-hos-bribery-trial-will-hear-accounts-arms-sales-us?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Nov 2018 22:44:59 +0000 Former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping will fight his bribery case in the United States by trying to “educate the jury” in court about China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”. In a 35-page document filed at the New York Southern District Court on Friday local time, Ho’s legal team defended its move to summon Harvard University professor William Kirby, saying the China expert’s testimony would show Ho’s work for Shanghai-based oil conglomerate CEFC China Energy was “in furtherance of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2168473/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-fight-bribery-case-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2168473/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-fight-bribery-case-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Oct 2018 03:45:36 +0000 Detained former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping, who is accused of offering US$2.9 million in bribes to African officials, was denied bail for the fifth time by a US court on Thursday local time. Rejecting the application, New York Southern District Court judge Loretta Preska noted that Ho could face a tougher trial in November after it was revealed that a former co-defendant was expected to testify against him. The ex-home affairs minister was arrested in New York last November and has... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2167069/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-denied-bail-fifth-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2167069/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-denied-bail-fifth-time?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Oct 2018 01:45:30 +0000 United States prosecutors have alleged that former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping, who will go on trial for bribery next month, illegally sold weapons to Libya and Qatar in 2015. Officials dropped the bombshell in a 32-page document filed on Tuesday in New York. Included in the document are emails that reportedly show Ho brokered “arms transactions” via an unnamed intermediary. In the emails, Ho’s contact also hints at selling weapons to South Sudan, which has been embroiled in a bloody... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2166847/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-accused-being?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2166847/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-accused-being?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Oct 2018 11:56:21 +0000 An ex-Senegalese official would “provide substantial evidence of the defendant’s guilt” when testifying against former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping, US prosecutors have said. It was the first official acknowledgement that Cheikh Gadio would be a witness and no longer a co-defendant following a court ruling in New York two weeks ago that all charges against the former foreign minister of Senegal and US resident be dropped. It also confirmed the Post’s previous report that one of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2166313/ex-senegal-official-testify-against-former-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2166313/ex-senegal-official-testify-against-former-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Sep 2018 11:42:54 +0000 Former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping offered the president of Chad a gift box containing US$2 million (HK$15.6 million) in cash around December 2014, US prosecutors have alleged. The accusations by co-defendant turned witness Cheikh Gadio, a former foreign minister of Senegal and an international consultant, were conveyed in a letter from US Department of Justice prosecutor Geoffrey Berman to Ho’s defence team in May. The letter was disclosed on Monday when Ho’s lawyers made a fifth... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2165871/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-offered-us2?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2165871/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-offered-us2?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Sep 2018 13:08:50 +0000 A Senegalese ex-official has agreed to testify in former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s bribery trial, with US prosecutors dropping all charges against the co-accused turned witness. A request to dismiss the complaints against Cheikh Gadio was lodged to the Southern District Court in New York on September 14, almost 10 months after the former foreign minister was arrested in the United States. The one-page filing did not include any explanation for the move. Gadio, a US resident, had... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2164622/co-accused-testify-against-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2164622/co-accused-testify-against-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Sep 2018 02:15:15 +0000 Former Hong Kong home affairs minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s latest bid to be released on bail was denied on Thursday by the US Court of Appeals in New York. Ho was arrested in the US in November and charged with multiple counts of bribery and money laundering, and has been detained for more than eight months. Ho, who turned 69 last week in prison, is scheduled to stand trial starting in November. He has been charged with eight counts of bribery and money laundering after allegedly offering... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2158882/us-appeal-court-quashes-former-hong-kong-minister?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2158882/us-appeal-court-quashes-former-hong-kong-minister?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Aug 2018 21:00:30 +0000 A US federal judge denied Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s push to drop most of bribery charges against him, another setback for the former Hong Kong minister’s legal battle. The decision, handed down by New York Southern District judge Loretta Preska on Friday Hong Kong time, means that Ho, detained in the US for eight months so far, will face all eight counts of bribery and money laundering at trial in November. Ho was arrested in New York last November and later charged with offering US$2.9 million... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2156069/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-fails-have?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2156069/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-fails-have?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jul 2018 21:05:04 +0000 US prosecutors have objected to ex-Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s fourth attempt to get bail after being behind bars for more than seven months, arguing that their investigations showed evidence of his guilt had “become stronger”. In an 18-page submission last Friday to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for their case against the former secretary for home affairs, prosecutors said they had interviewed witnesses and searched his think tank office in Virginia under warrant... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2153411/us-prosecutors-say-stronger-evidence-ex-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2153411/us-prosecutors-say-stronger-evidence-ex-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Jul 2018 07:25:38 +0000 A former Hong Kong minister currently detained in the US has made yet another attempt to be released from custody by asking the US Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court’s decision to deny him bail. Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s application came after he was thrice denied bail by the District Court for the Southern District of New York. He could be held for another five months before the formal trial begins in November. Ho, Hong Kong’s home affairs secretary from 2002 to 2007, faces a total of eight... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2151748/detained-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-lodges-appeal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2151748/detained-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-lodges-appeal?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jun 2018 03:04:05 +0000 Former Hong Kong home affairs secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping, who faces money laundering and corruption charges in the US, has waived any chance to claim his legal rights were undermined by his defence lawyers, who are allegedly being paid by a Chinese company connected to the case. Emails and phone records reviewed by prosecutors “strongly suggest the defendant’s legal fees are being paid in whole or in part” by CEFC China Energy, a Shanghai-based group connected to the government, a May 1... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2150291/patrick-ho-waives-chance-claim-beijings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2150291/patrick-ho-waives-chance-claim-beijings?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Jun 2018 17:57:39 +0000 Former Hong Kong home affairs secretary Patrick Ho had a bail application quashed for a third time on Thursday by a US federal judge. Judge Katherine Forrest of Federal District Court in New York denied the bail application after considering additional documents submitted by Ho, who faces money laundering and corruption charges, saying that he should still be considered a flight risk. Patrick Ho sought help from Beijing to fight bribery charges There are arguments that could “reasonably motivate... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2146672/patrick-ho-facing-eight-counts-us-court?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2146672/patrick-ho-facing-eight-counts-us-court?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 May 2018 22:53:01 +0000 US prosecutors have rejected former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s offer of two flats in the city as bail surety ahead of his bribery trial, for fear that the Chinese government could somehow block them from ever claiming the properties. Their decision – which a former prosecutor said showed a “lack of familiarity” with the city’s legal system – was revealed by the defence as the sides attempted to make a deal. New York Southern District Court will hear Ho’s third bail attempt on... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2146595/jailed-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2146595/jailed-former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 May 2018 12:03:39 +0000 United States prosecutors on Wednesday fired back at former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s bid to get most of the bribery charges he faces, along with email evidence, dropped. The US Attorney for New York’s Southern District Court gave a point-by-point rebuttal of arguments Ho’s lawyers made last month, in the form of two 50-page documents submitted to the court ahead of the Thursday hearing for Ho’s third attempt to get bail. Ho, Hong Kong’s home affairs secretary from 2002 to 2007,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2146455/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-hos-attempt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2146455/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-hos-attempt?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 May 2018 14:21:48 +0000 While former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping challenges US authorities’ accusations against him of money laundering and bribery, his co-defendant is trying to strike a deal with prosecutors. Cheikh Gadio, the former Senegal foreign minister arrested in New York last November, has not been charged or taken to court to plead, even though Ho – who was Hong Kong’s home affairs secretary from 2002 to 2007 – was indicted last December. Energy firm executive makes surprise appearance at former... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2144590/co-defendant-patrick-hos-us29-million?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2144590/co-defendant-patrick-hos-us29-million?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 May 2018 14:38:02 +0000 A surprise guest appearance in the audience at the bail hearing of detained former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping has raised further questions about his links to a Chinese energy conglomerate. Liu Yadong, an executive from CEFC China Energy’s United States subsidiary, was seen attending the New York Southern District Court hearing in the early hours of Thursday morning Hong Kong time. He declined to answer reporters’ questions afterwards.  In an email reply to the Post, Liu also declined... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2144455/energy-firm-executive-makes-surprise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2144455/energy-firm-executive-makes-surprise?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 May 2018 04:16:34 +0000 A major Chinese conglomerate has been identified for the first time in court documents in the case of former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping, who is detained in the United States and accused of offering bribes to African officials. CEFC China Energy was mentioned in one of the documents the prosecution submitted as evidence to a New York court. It showed the firm offered US$2 million in donations to Chadian President Idriss Déby to help the needy as a symbol of its “sincere commitment” to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2143935/major-chinese-company-identified-us-bribery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2143935/major-chinese-company-identified-us-bribery?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Apr 2018 15:01:20 +0000 Former Hong Kong home affairs minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping, who is detained in New York for allegedly bribing officials in Africa, had sought help from Beijing, claiming he was being used to “get to the big tiger”, the latest court documents have revealed. The documents, filed to the Southern District Court in New York, also revealed Ho believed he was being used to “discredit” China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”. The prosecutor accused Ho of getting financial support for at least part of his... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2143861/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-sought?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2143861/former-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-sought?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Apr 2018 15:15:00 +0000 Former Hong Kong home affairs minister Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s lawyers have accused US authorities of using “illegally” obtained evidence to build their case against him for alleged money laundering and bribery. According to a document seen by the Post, they applied to a New York court on Thursday, asking it to throw out a statement Ho made to FBI agents after he was arrested last November, along with other evidence taken from his mobile phone, saying it was collected illegally and should be... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2142504/patrick-hos-lawyers-accuse-us-authorities-using-illegally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2142504/patrick-hos-lawyers-accuse-us-authorities-using-illegally?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:47:33 +0000