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Business Crimes Hotline
Head of International NGO Convicted of Bribery, Money Laundering Crimes
On Dec. 5, 2018, Chi Ping Patrick Ho, aka Patrick C.P. Ho, the 69 year old former head of the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC NGO), a Chinese nongovernmental organization based in Hong Kong and Arlington, Virginia, was convicted by a federal jury in New York City in connection with alleged bribes offered to officials in Chad and Uganda. The jury found Ho guilty of one count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), four counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and one count of committing international money laundering.
At the week-long trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence that Ho participated in separate schemes to bribe officials in Chad and Uganda in order to advantage CEFC China Energy, a multi-billion dollar Chinese energy conglomerate that backed his CEFC NGO. Ho's NGO, which held “Special Consultative Status” with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, allegedly offered bribes of $2 million and $1 million to officials in Chad and Uganda, respectively.
According to the evidence presented at trial, around September 2014, during the annual UN General Assembly, Ho worked with a Senegalese official to arrange a meeting with President Idriss Déby of Chad to discuss CEFC China Energy's acquisition of Chadian oil rights. After an initial meeting with President Déby in November 2014, Ho flew back to Chad in December 2014 with $2 million in cash, which he concealed in gift boxes presented to President Déby. After discovering the money, President Déby rejected the bribe. Ho attempted to explain the cash away as a “donation” to Chad, but was ultimately unable to obtain any unfair advantage in the country.
According to the prosecutors' arguments at trial, Ho undertook the Ugandan scheme around the same time as the Chad scheme. When Ho attended the UN General Assembly meeting at which he met with President Déby, he also engaged with Ugandan President of the UN General Assembly Sam Kutesa. In early 2016, Kutsea became Uganda's foreign minister and allegedly received a $500,000 payment from Ho in return for meetings with President Yoweri Museveni. During subsequent meetings with Museveni, Ho allegedly paid the president $500,000 in cash. In return, Ho and CEFC China received help in the acquisition of a Ugandan bank, which would serve to catalyze future business in the country.
Ho is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska in the Southern District of New York on March 14, 2019.
— Dennis Mahoney, Mayer Brown
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