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Patrick Ho’s friends and family beg US court for leniency as Africa bribery sentence looms

  • Defence asks for Ho’s release on 16 months’ time served and submits 149 letters in support
  • Sentencing on March 25 for conviction on seven counts of bribery and money laundering

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Patrick Ho plays the violin in a Christmas Show at New York Metropolitan Correctional Centre in December. Photo: New York Southern District Court documents.
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.
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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 government.

Lawyers asked a judge of the Southern District of New York to release Ho, 69, on time served, arguing that the 16 months he had spent in jail were adequate punishment for his conviction last year on seven counts of corruption and money laundering.

“His prosecution and imprisonment have already exacted a profound toll on him,” lawyer Edward Kim wrote in the court filing. “His personal life has been entirely upended, his professional reputation and career have been ruined, he faces serious financial penalties.”

He continued: “Patrick’s fall from grace has been public and severe, and this case already provides a powerful and more than adequate deterrent.”

The defence submitted 149 letters to the court from family, friends, local politicians and former patients from Ho’s time as an accomplished ophthalmologist. There were no letters from incumbent Beijing or Hong Kong officials, or from any heavyweights from the city’s pro-Beijing camp.

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Among those who did write were Ho’s mother and his wife of 22 years, Sibelle Hu Hui-chung. Hu wrote she had lost her own mother while Ho was in custody and had been forced to seek work at age 61.

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