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UNITED NATIONS, May
29 – 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 18, Inner City Press
asked UN spokesman Farhan Haq
about it, video here,
UN transcript here:
and below. On May 28, with UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres still not having even
started an audit, the scope of
the China Energy Fund Committee
/ Ye Jianming / Patrick Ho
scandal expands again as to the
UN. Yet another President of the
UN General Assembly, Vuk
Jeremic, is reported have
received his funding from Ho, Ye
Jinming and CEFC, click here
for example, citing Inner City
Press and its questions to
"Farhan Haku," and reporting
that "Ho was one of Jermic's
main financiers and that he had
transferred 4.3 million euros to
Jeremic's organization and his
private company." On May 29,
Inner City Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, why
no audit? From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: There
has been a development in the
Patrick Ho China Energy Fund
Committee case where it's
reported extensively in Serbia
that yet another former
President of the General
Assembly, in this case Vuk
Jeremic, had received some $9
million from China Energy Fund
Committee. So, I wanted to
ask you each time this comes up
you say, you know, does it… now
that this, in this current case
pending in the southern district
two separate PGA/former PGAs
have appeared to be… have
received funds from this
group. Is it time for an
audit, or not?
Spokesman: A few
things. As you know,
Presidents of the General
Assembly are not staff
members. Obviously, the
Secretary-General would expect
the highest level of ethical
behaviour from people fulfilling
that post. I think any
questions and accusations
regarding past Presidents of the
General Assembly should go to
them. We have been
cooperating fully with the
Southern District of New York in
the conduct of that case.
Question: Well, just one
follow-up because the question
for the UN is given that
especially you have spoken for
both of them, Ban Ki-moon
ordered an OIOS [Office of
Internal Oversight Services]
audit of the Ng Lap Seng case
totally outside, I think, it
seems to me of the US court
process. That was one PGA
[President of the General
Assembly]. This case
involves two PGAs, as well as
DESA [Department of Economic and
Social Affairs] and untold,
unknown the scope of…?
Spokesman: I
understand. What I'm
telling you is we have
cooperated fully with the… ee've
cooperated fully. Thank
you. Linda." Video here.
From the May 18 UN transcript:
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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