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By Matthew Russell Lee, HK

FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, December 5 – The UN accredited NGO which SG Antonio Guterres has refused to audit despite Inner City Press asking him about it for a year, China Energy Fund Committee, is now shown to have offered weapons ("some arms") to Chad's Idriss Deby, who took power in a coup and has held it for decades. Inner City Press is uploading the text message here.  In the UN bribery prosecution by the US against Patrick Ho of China Energy Fund Committee, both prosecution and defense did their summations on December 4. On December 5 at 2 pm the jurors quickly found Ho guilty on seven of the eight changes against him: all five under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering and conspiracy for the Uganda scheme with Sam Kutesa and Museveni but NOT for money laundering in Chad There the payment was $2 million in cash - it was never laundered.  The UN has yet to act: it has left CEFC accredited while banning the Press that reported on it, and on this (CEFC moving to violate Iran sanctions). On December 4 prosecutor Daniel Richenthal did a rebuttal on both the Chad and Uganda schemes. Richenthal tried to rehabilitate Cheikh Gadio, saying the money he took from an unnamed courier from a businessman was only $20,000 and that Gadio hadn't lied about it. He emphasized the emails as evidence and ended with a photo of Ho with Uganda's oil minister, looking at a map of sites. Ho paid to be there, Richenthal said. This is what bribery looks like. Judge Loretta Preska deliverd a nearly two hour jury charge, including the Uganda anti-corruption law that must mena little, if Kutesa hasn't been charged under it. Th jury will returned at 10 am on December 5, now a Federal holiday in honor of George H.W. Bush (who nominated Preska). Defense attorney Edward Kim urged them to request and review many exhibits, and it's to some of those that Inner City Press will not turn. Watch this site. It still seems that the US does not know if the gift boxes CEFC brought to Kampala on its jet included $500,000 in cash. Prosecutor Douglas Zolkind said it doesn't matter. But it surely did matter to Museveni - and to the Ugandan people, if they and their votes matter (see, e.g., Bobi Wine). And it mattered to the defense, whose Edward Kim made much of the $500,000 discrepancy, as well as calling Gadio a liar. Next up: Richenthal for the prosecution, and the charge. On the afternoon of December 3 the jury charge was agreed to, after the defense temporarily argued that "New York, New York" might not be in Manhattan and thus in the Southern District's jurisdiction. Prosecutor Daniel Richenthal said he was ready to re-open his case to prove the 60 Wall Street, where Deutsche Bank is, is in fact in Manhattan. Defense attorney Benjamin Rosenberg said, after a time, "We won't make that objection. Judge Preska said, "That's a wise move." She also asked if the exhibits had been made available. Inner City Press replied Not yet, which remains the case as least as to it as of 6:35 pm the night before summations. (Before 9 am Inner City Press had written requesting particular exhibits, on which we will have more.)

  Despite Wednesday's national holiday in honor of George H.W. Bush (of whom Judge Preska spoke a number of times during Tuesday's down-times), Ho will on that day be produced (legalese requiring translation from the largely Hong Kong media left) the jury will deliberate. We'll be there. There was hardly any defense, other than the explosive cross examination of Senegal's former foreign minister Cheikh Gadio (who admitted taking cash from an undisclosed businessman for his previous presidential campaign). The government finally put into evidence CEFC's purchase of Apartment 78B in Trump World Tower, which PGA Vuk Jeremic, Gadio and others visited. There were weapons for oil offers prepared inside the UN. The jury will be charged on December 4. on the morning of November 30 the prosecution  detailed how CEFC bought UN PGA Sam Kutesa - and played an audio wiretap of Ho discussing bribing UN PGA John Ash with Sheri Yan, who did jail time in the first UN bribery case of Ng Lap Seng. As to Uganda, CEFC instead of $500,00 case did a wire transfer - it was cheaper, through pliant HSBC bank which also money launders for Mexican drug cartels - and there was Ho, in purple like today, as Museveni's inauguration. He brought gift with him - a vase, painting, what locked to be a clock - to a dinner at Kutesa's residence. Then the prosecution flashed a list of the times Ho entered the UN - the UN has that information, you see, though they refused to provide it when Inner City Press asked, as to Francis Lorenzo, Ho and Carlos Garcia, preferring to ban Inner City Press. The prosecution left for Monday showing the agreement under which CEFC and its missing Chairman Ye bought unit 78B in Trump World Tower. After a wan cross examination by Ho's lawyer Benjamin Rosenberg (Judge Preska essentially shut him down), the jury was told they may get the case as early as Wednesday, when Antonio Guterres like his predecessor will be put up for sale at Cipriani on 42nd Street. This week, along with the depths of UN corruption, revealed how in China the formal government has a murky relationship with quasi state firms like CEFC, which on the one hand paved Xi's way into the Czech Republic and on the other, tried to get Chad's Deby to "make" Chinese state oil company CNPC to get it a piece of the action, perhaps for the Defense Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, presumably the sources of the weapons and drones CEFC was offering to Deby and others in Libya and South Sudan. This is the NGO that Antonio Guterres has refused to audit and keeps in the UN while roughing up and banning Inner City Press. Kutesa's sale of the UN began through previous PGA Vuk Jeremic, who told Kutesa it would be "win - win" with CEFC. Then Ho emailed Kutesa's chief of staff Arthur Kafeero, whom Inner City Press wrote about before being banned from even entering the UN by UNSG Antonio Guterres. Later Ho did his emailing with Sam's wife Edith Gasana Kutesa, who asked for money to supposedly make good on an electoral campaign to  pledge help Kutesa's young constituents (although she also bragging that Kutesa had no opposing candidate). She wrote, Youth are impatient - so send me the money! Ho arranged for $500,000 while pitching Edith on all the things (and people) CEFC had bought in Czech Republic. As Inner City Press reported and asked about before being roughed up and banned by UNSG Antonio Guterres, the Czech Ambassador headed ECOSOC, which refused to even look into CEFC's accreditation after Ho's arrest. CEFC used the UN to pitch weapons to dictators. And Guterres is covering up for them. Ho met Kutesa and his son Isaac for three hours in the PGA office - the type of entry Guterres is trying to prevent coverage of - and as his "PGA residence." Ho would email Kafeera and be scheduled as  speaker at the UN, which under Guterres took CEFC's $1 million even AFTER Ho was arrested. The UN of Guterres is corrupt. Periscope video here. Also on November 30, finishing up on the Chad scheme with FBI Agent Galicia, a CEFC web page with Bill Clinton was shown. We'll have more on this. On November 29, Senegal's former Foreign Minister Cheikh Gadio admitted he took $20,000 from an unnamed courier from a businessman he did not want to identify. Then Gadio pushed a journalist in the street and told Inner City Press he would answer its questions later. Video here (YouTube), shorter (Twitter). But if that seemed to give home to Ho, the upcoming Uganda scheme should not. Whether not a disputed prosecution chart comes into evidence, the undelying timeline is damning. Ho for CEFC told then UN President of the General Assembly Vuk Jeremic, who was already working for CEFC, that they wanted to meet his successor Sam Kutesa of Uganda. This culminated, while Kutesa was still UN PGA, in CEFC's chairman Ye Jianming being named a special adviser to the United Nations PGA. This is disgusting, given that CEFC was pushing weapons to Idriss Deby in Chad. More disgusting, Ho used Ye's inroaded into the Czech Republic, whose ambassador to the UN, chairing UN ECOSOC, refused to act on ECOSOC accredited CEFC even after Ho was arrested. Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric played their cover up roles in this. We'll have more on all this. Gadio is not the defendant in this bribery case - he is, at least so far, the prosecution's lead witness, with a Non Prosecution Agreement. But does that NPA cover Gadio, after his testimony, pushing a journalist on the street outside the court? Video here (YouTube), shorter (Twitter). Inner City Press along with other journalists, mostly from Hong Kong media, waiting outside the Southern District of New York courthouse at day's end. Gadio emerged and Inner City Press asked him how he thought the day had gone. He did not answer but rushed past. Inner City Press asked, louder, "Are you still running for president of Senegal?" Gadio turned back and pushed a journalist who was following him. This happened again a few blocks away. Finally on the stoop of a pharmacy on Canal Street Gadio's companion said he would not be answering questions today but to give your business card. Inner City Press gave its and asked if the former President of Senegal Gadio who took money from China for dropping Taiwan was Abdoulaye Wade. Gadio looked back in recognition - then was gone. Inner City Press previously questioned him in the UN when he was the Organization for Islamic Cooperation's envoy on the Central African Republic. Much has changed since then. As Inner City Press reported yesterday, Gadio was already on shaky ground when his email to Ho complaining he hadn't gotten Chinese money after, as Senegal's foreign minister in 2005, he worked to drop Taiwan and recognize the PR of China. But the bag of (campaign) cash allegation, dropped without warning in cross examination by Edward Kim, caused a break in the proceeding. Inner City Press rushed down to retrieve its phone and tweet and quickly live stream the news, here. Back upstairs, the name of the businessman was not disclosed, allegedly to protect him - from current president Macky Sall? We'll have more on this. Gadio testified for a second day about how he tried to broker weapons to Chad's President Idriss Deby from CEFC's Patrick Ho, who delivered gift boxes with $2 million in cash inside. Gadio's testimony got more specific, that in March 2015 Deby wanted to keep the meeting with CEFC small and confidential, "because of the war situation." Gadio cited Boko Haram, and Ho in a text message said CEFC's offer, for CNPC's 10%, was $200 million "and some arms." This is the head of a still UN accredited NGO, offering weapons for oil - with no audit by SG Antonio Guterres. Gadio tried to get paid for offering opportunities with the Chad - Cameroon pipelines. Gadio's firm Sarata had its bank account in Dubai closed for not being able to document where the money came from; his joint UN tax return with his wife, the head of the UN in Equatorial Guinea, was found to be false and is part of Gadio's non prosecution agreement. And the UN? And Gadio's reiterated dream to run for President of Senegal, after saying in writing he wanted money from China, while foreign minister, for flipping the country from Taiwan to the PR of China? The defense began its cross examination shortly before the lunch break, getting Gadio to admit he misspoke when he claimed Deby was calling him everyday. Mid-day Periscope video here. These will be more in the afternoon, which we'll report, while Guterres' UN tries to cover up the corruption in its walls - by banning the Press. Watch this site.

 - and what happened afterwards. But there are clouds on the horizon, unless Judge Preska swats them down, for the cross examination of Gadio. The lawyers for Ho, who it seems clear was using the corrupt UN's "special consultative status" to promote oil business and military equipment, point out these US statements, which the prosecutions does not want the jury to hear about: "That Dr. Gadio had intentionally omitted a key asset from his disclosures to
Pretrial Services (Ex. A at 20 (“[T]he only reasonable interpretation of that is Mr.
Gadio doesn’t want to admit his association with that firm although it is not
reasonably subject to dispute.”));
• That Dr. Gadio’s statement in an email to Dr. Ho in 2014 was “referring to a $2
million bribe that Mr. Gadio later wrote about how he should get a fee for and he
negotiated it and he got $400,000 to the firm that he omitted from the Pretrial
Services report” (id. at 21);
• That Dr. Gadio had “admitted facts that the law recognizes as criminal” (id. at
25);
• That Dr. Gadio had omitted foreign income from the Pretrial Services report
“both to avoid taxes and because he didn’t want anyone to know what it was for
because it’s a lot of money, $400,000 wire or two $200,000 wires . . .” (id.); and
• That the omissions are “an additional indication [Dr. Gadio] is running away from
what I’m referring to as the Gadio Firm which he omitted in the description of his
employment because that is a serious problem” (id. at 26). " These statements, like Gadio's threat to trash CEFC to Deby unless CEFC paid him money, are serious problems - unless blocked. The only certainty here is that the UN is corrupt, and a venue for corruption. Gadio texted Deby that his "Chinese friends" were coming to N'djamena with "excellent offers." But when the meeting happened, after speeches by Deby and Ho and CEFC's Zang, suddenly CEFC brought in gift boxes, "as big as that TV," Gadio told the court. Deby accepted them. But then Gadio, back in his hotel, got a call to return to meet Deby alone. According to Gadio, the coup leader Deby was offended. He had no problem with the cash staying in the country, but required a letter re-characterizing it as a donation. This was provided but Gadio criticized how it was written. By this time, the email made clear, Gadio was mostly focused on getting paid. He'd asked CEFC for $100,00 for a Dakar event co-sponsored by France's then-President Francois Hollande. (He also took money from Total, Hertz and a Zimbabwe cell phone company). Gadio texted his son Boubker in Dubai that if the Chinese didn't pay him by January "we will go to Chad in January and destroy their reputation and strategies in Chad! The President will listen to us!" This was ALL IN CAPS. When asked about the threat by Douglas Zolkind of the prosecution, getting ready for the defense's cross examination, Gadio said he as "translating my frustration" which Zolkind repeated as channeling. This might not work well on cross, which we will be covering, watch this site.

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