Two Businessmen charged in New York for bribing Sam Kutesa

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Tue 21 Nov, 2017

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Two businessmen have been charged in New York for paying millions of US dollars in bribes to secure business deals in Uganda and Chad, US media reported yesterday.

The Department of Justice unsealed the complaint on Monday charging the head of a Hong Kong-based NGO Dr Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68, of Hong Kong, and the former foreign minister of Senegal Cheikh Gadio, 61, with bribing high-level officials to help a Chinese oil and gas company to gain business advantages in Africa.

Gadio was arrested in New York Friday afternoon while Ho was arrested Saturday.

The two were charged in a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court on Monday with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international money laundering and conspiracy to commit both.

According to the complaint, the defendants arranged bribes to secure business advantages for a Shanghai-based multibillion-dollar conglomerate that operates internationally in the energy and financial sectors.

One of the schemes was relying on gifts paid to Sam Kutesa, the Ugandan Minister of Foreign Affairs who recently served as President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Ho allegedly paid a $ 500,000 (Shs1.8 billion) bribe via wires transmitted through New York to an account designated by Minister Sam Kutesa in Uganda.

The bribe was paid on or about May 6, 2016, after Kutesa finished his term as president of the U.N. General Assembly, the complaint said.

Ho also provided the Ugandan official with gifts and promises of future benefits, including offering to share the profits, the compliant further states.

Prosecutors said the bribe was meant to secure business advantages for the energy company, which was not identified in court papers, and potential acquisition of a Ugandan bank.

The Department of Justice said the NGO is based in Hong Kong and Virginia and holds "Special Consultative Status" with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

The Court was told that Ho headed an NGO funded by the energy company.

Angel M. Melendez, the head of New York's Department of Homeland Security office, said Ho used his position as a consult to the U.N. Economic and Social Council to further the bribery schemes and offered millions of dollars in bribes disguised as charitable donations to gain business advantages.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim for the Southern District of New York said Ho's alleged Ugandan scheme was hatched in the halls of the United Nations in New York, when the country's current foreign minister served as the President of the U.N. General Assembly, and then continued unabated upon his return to Uganda.

Kutesa was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly's 69th session in June 2014.

Ho first met Kutesa on October 19 at the United Nations, months after he began his tenure at the UN General Assembly.

In the other scheme, Ho and Gadio were charged with causing the energy company to offer a USD 2 million (7.2 billion Shillings) bribe to the Idriss Deby, the president of Chad to gain valuable oil rights from the Chadian government without facing international competition.

Gadio, the former Foreign Minister of Senegal, allegedly played "an instrumental role in the scheme connecting Ho with the President of Chad and conveyed the bribe offer to the President of Chad.

Cheikh Gadio

"Mr. Gadio has a distinguished career in public service, served as a college professor, and worked in the public interest on numerous projects. He has been a broker for peace in Africa and overseen the expenditure of millions of dollars. His integrity and honesty have never been questioned," Baum is quoted based on an email to AP news agency.

Both men made initial court appearances. Ho was being held on consent of his attorneys, while Gadio remained incarcerated on $ 1 million bail.

Once released, he will face electronic monitoring and home incarceration.

William F. Sweeney Jr., the head of New York's FBI office, said Ho and Gadio wanted to get their hands on the rights to lucrative opportunities in Africa.

He is quoted by the Washington Post saying that the two businessmen were willing to throw money at the leaders of the two countries to bypass the normal course of business, but didn't realize that using the U.S. banking system would be their undoing.

According to the FCPA Blog, a news and commentary publication highlighting white-collar crime, enforcement, and compliance, the NGO in question is the China Energy Fund Committee or CEFC.

On its website, CEFC says it is headed by Dr Patrick Chi Ping Ho and supported by a special private grant fully sponsored by China Energy Fund Co., Ltd.

That company in turn says it is a private collective enterprise with energy and financial services as its core business.

Agencies