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Chris Lau

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 months he had spent behind bars before his conviction.
His legal team said earlier that Ho could get a further reduction of five months for good behaviour and be out in June.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Ho was no longer in their custody. It was not immediately clear if Ho has been deported.

Ho was home affairs chief from 2002 to 2007. He was arrested at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York in November 2017. He became the deputy secretary general of a think tank funded by the Shanghai-based oil conglomerate CEFC China Energy following his stint in the Hong Kong government.
In December 2018, a federal jury found him guilty on seven of eight counts of bribery and money laundering over oil rights for CEFC in Chad and Uganda.
Ho was found to have offered US$2.9 million in bribes to Chadian President Idriss Déby, Senegalese diplomat Cheikh Gadio and Ugandan foreign minister Sam Kutesa.


During the trial, defendant-turned-witness Gadio, the middleman in talks on oil rights between CEFC and Déby, testified that Ho offered US$2 million wrapped in gift boxes to the president during a visit to Chad in December 2014.
Ho remained defiant in the face of the charges. Shortly after his arrest, he said he was being used to “get to the big tiger”, and asked a friend to seek help from the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee.
After being found guilty, he said he was “the first of the sacrificial lambs of such hostility”.
Apart from China’s strategic expansion into Africa through private companies such as CEFC, the case also raised eyebrows over UN governance, with three officials linked.

Two former UN General Assembly presidents were suspected to have received bribes in the case. One has since died after being sued while the other was never prosecuted.
Vuk Jeremic, another former General Assembly president, testified at Ho’s trial, saying that after his UN term, he received funding from CEFC to set up a think tank.
Music, medicine and an ominous fortune stick: Patrick Ho’s life before scandal
Ho filed an appeal last year against his conviction, saying the prosecution had presented a “legally insufficient” case. The US Court of Appeals has yet to hand down its ruling.
The appeal document showed that Ho used CEFC to build networks at the UN to advance China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global trade strategy.


He apparently told Kutesa, shortly after the Ugandan assumed the General Assembly presidency, that CEFC could provide support to the United Nations in exchange for the UN giving more consideration to China’s voice when the body formulated its programmes, according to a report cited.
He also lobbied for Kutesa to visit China to meet President Xi Jinping in 2015. Kutesa went to Beijing in August 2015, but met then-Vice-President Li Yuanchao, state councillor Yang Jiechi and foreign minister Wang Yi, instead of Xi.
The documents also showed that Kutesa invited the head of CEFC China Energy to be special adviser to the General Assembly president, while the UN included one activity by CEFC on the Belt and Road Initiative in a high-profile forum series, and co-hosted another with CEFC on global development.
Additional reporting by Robert Delaney



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Patrick Ho

Jailed ex-Hong Kong official Patrick Ho released after finishing US sentence for bribery and money laundering

Patrick Ho claimed he was a “sacrificial lamb” in the trade war. Photo: SCMP

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2018 courtroom sketch, former Hong Kong home affairs secretary Dr. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, a prominent businessman charged in a United Nations-linked bribery scandal, attends his bail hearing in New York. Jury selection starts for Ho's bribery trial starts Monday, Nov. 26, 2018 in New York. He was arrested in 2017 on charges he paid bribes so a Chinese energy conglomerate could secure business advantages. (Elizabeth Williams via AP, File)

In this courtroom sketch, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Hayden points at defendant, Hong Kong businessman Dr. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, seated far left, during opening statements, Monday, Nov. 26, 2018, in New York, as Judge Loretta Preska presides at Manhattan Federal Court. Federal prosecutors told the jury that greed motivated Ho to line the pockets of high-ranking officials in two African nations...bribes intended to land lucrative business deals, including oil rights, for a Chinese energy conglomerate. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Jailed former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho acted as go-between for former UNGA chief to meet Xi Jinping, according to documents filed for his appeal

Patrick Ho was jailed for three years by a New York federal court in March, after being found guilty of offering a total of US$2.9 million (HK$22.7 million) in bribes to former UNGA president Sam Kutesa, Chadian President Idriss Déby and Senegalese diplomat Cheikh Gadio. Photo: AP

epa07675008 Chinese President Xi Jinping meet with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (not pictured), during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 25 June 2019. EPA-EFE/NICOLAS ASFOURI / POOL

Patrick Ho Chi-ping and CEFC Chinese Energy executives were received in Uganda Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa's residence in May 12, 2016. Kutesa's wife Edith (in yellow) were accused to negotiate a US$500,000 contribution from CEFC to Kutesa. Photo: Handout

Patrick Ho Chi-ping(L) led CEFC Chinese Energy delegation to meet Chadian President Iris Deby in November 7, 2014. One month later in the second visit, Ho brought along eight boxes with cash stuffed inside. Photo: Handout

Sam Kutesa (left), President of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly met with Ye Jianming (right), Chairman of CEFC China Energy, who appointed Ye as Special Honorary Advisor to UN General Assembly. Photo: CRIENGLISH

Former Home Affairs Secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping poses for photo in an interview. 21AUG17. SCMP/ Tony Cheung

Former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho appeals against US conviction in multimillion-dollar bribery case

Patrick Ho could be released as early as June 2020, with good behaviour, having been held in a New York jail for 16 months. Photo: SCMP Pictures

FILE- This March 12, 2009 photo shows the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. The high security section of the facility where high-risk inmates that included Mafia boss John Gotti and several close associates of Osama bin Laden spent their time awaiting trial, will now house accused Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

After tearful apology, ex-Hong Kong official Patrick Ho gets ‘truly merciful’ 3-year sentence in US bribery and money laundering case

Patrick Ho wept as he apologised during his sentencing hearing in New York on Monday. Image: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

Chi Ping Patrick Ho sentenced in a bribery trial by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in New York, U.S., March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg NO RESALES, NO ARCHIVE

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

Patrick Ho was found guilty on seven counts of bribery and money laundering last year. Photo: AP

PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCILLOR PATRICK HO CHI-PING AND ACTRESS Sibelle Hu Hui-chung AT THEIR WEDDING AT ST. JOHN'S CATHEDRAL. 12 sep 97

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The 70-year-old, who was jailed for 36 months and fined US$400,000 last year, is also expected to be deported
In December 2018, a federal jury found him guilty on seven of eight counts in a case revolving around oil rights in Africa for Shanghai-based CEFC



The 70-year-old, who was jailed for 36 months and fined US$400,000 last year for bribery and money laundering, is also expected to be deported because his passport has expired.


Jailed ex-Hong Kong official Patrick Ho released after finishing US sentence for bribery and money laundering

The 70-year-old, who was jailed for 36 months and fined US$400,000 last year, is also expected to be deported In December 2018, a federal jury found him guilty on seven of eight counts in a case revolving around oil rights in Africa for Shanghai-based CEFC

The 70-year-old, who was jailed for 36 months and fined US$400,000 last year, is also expected to be deported

In December 2018, a federal jury found him guilty on seven of eight counts in a case revolving around oil rights in Africa for Shanghai-based CEFC