Disgraced Hong Kong official Patrick Ho compares himself to Huawei boss Sabrina Meng and claims he is first ‘sacrificial lamb’ in US-China trade war
- City’s former home affairs minister has been found guilty of bribery and money laundering in New York Southern District Court
- Prosecutors have asked judge to send him to jail for five years, saying Ho has shown no remorse for his crimes
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 sentencing.
Prosecutors urged the court to neglect Ho’s request to be sentenced to time served and said his attempt to bribe top African officials deserved “substantial punishment”.
“The defendant does not deserve such a shockingly low sentence,” Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the southern district, said.
Berman also argued Ho had a played a leadership role in “orchestrating and supervising” a bribery scheme to secure business advantages for Chinese oil company CEFC China Energy in Chad and Uganda, although the head of CEFC, Ye Jianming, was allegedly ultimately responsible for the scheme.
