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UNITED NATIONS, May
23 – Four months after the
arrest for UN
bribery of Patrick Ho, the
head of China Energy Fund
Committee full funded by CEFC
China Energy, his ultimate boss
at CEFC Ye Jianming was brought
in for questioning in
China. On May 17, Ho was
denied bail in a proceeding in
which the UN was described as
corrupted, and Ho's emails
offering bribes to the
foundation of UN President of
the General Assembly Sam Kutesa
were made part of the judge's
order. Post-hearing Periscope
video here.
On May 23, after UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres gave a
speech about corruption and the
UN being a leader, Inner City
Press asked his spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript
here:
Inner City Press: the Convention
against Corruption. I did
notice in his speech that he
called for… for… for free press
in civil society, exposing
wrongdoing, and… and so the UN's
role is essential and so lead by
example. So, I want to ask
you again — I'm sorry to do
this, but there's a current case
in the Southern District of New
York of Patrick Ho and China
Energy Fund Committee, where it
was just described in… in… when
he was held over in jail,
Patrick Ho, that there… this
corrupted many individuals in
the UN and the institution
itself. This was said in
the courtroom. So, given
that, can you explain why the
Secretary-General, in the spirit
of leading by example, hasn't
even held… even an OIOS [Office
of Internal Oversight Services]
audit of how deeply this ran and
why China Energy Fund Committee
remains… I know you're going to
say it's Member States but…?
Spokesman: Well, that
happens to be a fact. That
happens to be a fact. As
I've said, we have fully
cooperated with the federal
authorities on this case.
Inner
City Press:
Is that leading by example?
Spokesman: Yes. Yes.
Inner City Press: That's enough?
Spokesman: Go ahead." He
moved on. On May 18, Inner City
Press asked UN spokesman Farhan
Haq about it, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press:
Yesterday, there was a court
hearing down in the Southern
District of New York where
Patrick Ho was applying once
again… of the China Energy
Fund Committee (CEFC) was
applying again for bail. He was
denied, but I'm asking you this,
because in the court hearing, it
was said, these were two direct
quotes. One quote was that
he's charged with "corrupting
the UN", and second quote is
"many people at the UN were
involved". So it made me
wonder, and I looked around the
courtroom, whether the UN is
already following this
case? I'm aware that there
has yet… at least my
understanding is there's no
audit yet. Is OLA (Office
of Legal Affairs)… do they
have somebody there? Are
they ringing up fees, would be
one way to put it, but what's
your response to these
statements in court?
Deputy Spokesman: We're
monitoring this case and, as you
know, we've been cooperating
with the US legal authorities
concerning this overall case.
Inner City Press: In this
case… in this case…
I know that in the previous case
documents were provided and
$302,000 were paid as legal fees
back to the UN. In the
case of Patrick Ho and CEFC,
have documents been provided to
the prosecution?
Deputy Spokesman: We're
cooperating as needed with the
authorities." And
charging? China Energy
Fund Committee, the bribery
vehicle, is still in special
consultative status with UN
ECOSOC. Oft-traveling Secretary
General Antonio Guterres has not
even ordered an audit (though he
keeps restrictions on Inner City
Press which covered the Ng Lap
Seng and now Patrick Ho UN
bribery scandals. The UN is a
corrupted institution. In court
on May 17, Ho's lawyer Andrew
Levander
argued
that now China
is cutting
"the energy
company" CEFC China
Energy no slack.
Prosecutor
Douglas
Zolkind on the
other hand
emphasized
that the
energy company
has now
essentially
been taken
over the Chinese
government,
which he also
said controls
Hong
Kong's
decisions to
extradite or
not. Judge Katherine
Forrest noted
that the
energy company
is paying Ho's
legal fees and
said its
motives could
not be known.
She read into
the record not
only the Kutesa
emails in Paragraph
40 of the complaint
but
also those
about Chad's
president Deby
in Paragraphs
24 and 26.
It was said the
case "involves
many people at
the UN." We'll
have more on
this. On
May 15 the prosecution detailed
how the bribes were paid, as
part of responding to Ho's
motion to dismissed. The funds
to Kutesa when from HSBC in Hong
Kong to Deutsche Bank in New
York to Stanbic in Uganda. The
funded to Gadio, in two
tranches, when from HSBC in Hong
Kong to HSBC in New York to
Mashreq Bank in New York to
Mashreq Bank in Dubai. On May 17
Ho should hear a ruling on his
re-request for bail. At the UN,
which has yet to even order an
audit while Ho's China Energy
Fund Committee is still in
special consultative status with
UN ECOSOC, Inner City Press
asked if the UN hopes to get
awarded attorneys fees like it
did, to the tune of $302,000, in
the case of Ng Lap Seng, with
the same prosecutors. The UN
declined to comment - it remains
UNreformed. Watch this site. On
May 2, Patrick Ho and five
lawyers argued for more than an
hour to try to get bail granted
- it was not. Judge
Katherine
Forrest noted
that even if
Ho's motions
to dismiss
some counts,
and to
suppress
evidence
collected with
his iPad
password, are
in fact
granted, the
case will
still proceed.
She asked his
lawyers to
research
whether the
equity in his
mother's home
in Hong Kong
could be
transferred to
a bank in the
United States.
Ho's lawyer Andrew
Levander
quoted him
that this is a
case not only
against Ho,
but also
against CEFC
and China it
its "One Belt,
One Road." The
prosecution's
Douglas
Zolkind
recounted how
Ho inside the
UN worked with
former Senegal
foreign
minister Gadio
to bribe
Chadian
president
Gadio, who
"laughingly"
referred to
Brazilian
bribes for
another oil
concession.
Ho's lawyers
analogized him
to Jeff Bezos
of Amazon and
to Donald J.
Trump. He will
be back in
court in a
forthnight on
May 17 at 3 pm
- and so will
we. Post
hearing
Periscope
video here.
Management and day to day
operations of CEFC have
reportedly been taken over by
the Shanghai city government's
investment arm, Shanghai
Guosheng Group Company. At the
UN, Inner City Press asked if
this meant that its fundee could
not longer be in special
consultative status to UN
ECOSOC; this has not been
answered. Inner City Press made
this connection: the president
of ECOSOC is Marie Chatardová,
Permanent Representative of the
Czech Republic to the UN. Her
president, in Prague Castle, is
Miloš Zeman -- who, like
Uganda's Foreign Minister Sam
Kutesa when he was UN President
of the General Assembly, made Ye Jianming an
official adviser.
(Inner City Press' CEFC
investigative covered has been
picked up in the Czech media,
for example here.)
Amazingly, UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres has yet to even
order an audit, which his
predecessor Ban Ki-moon did in
the case resulting in a 48 month
sentence for Ng Lap Seng (while
also evicted Inner City Press
for pursuing the story; Guterres
and his Global Communicator
Alison Smale continue the
restrictions). Watch this site.
***
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