A US federal judge denied Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s push to drop most of bribery charges against him, another setback for the former Hong Kong minister’s legal battle.
The decision, handed down by New York Southern District judge Loretta Preska on Friday Hong Kong time, means that Ho, detained in the US for eight months so far, will face all eight counts of bribery and money laundering at trial in November.
Ho was arrested in New York last November and later charged with offering US$2.9 million (HK$22.8 million) worth of bribes to government officials in Africa to advance oil and development rights in Uganda and Chad for Shanghai-based CEFC China Energy.
The accounts to which the money was sent were respectively designated to Ugandan foreign minister Sam Kutesa and former Senegalese foreign minister Cheikh Gadio.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get bail since his arrest, Ho stepped up his legal challenge against US prosecutors by applying to have six of the eight charges against him dropped, and almost all evidence against him discounted.
Benjamin Rosenberg of Dechert LLP, part of Ho’s defence team, argued the prosecution brought the wrong charge against the defendant under three Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) offences, because Ho was a foreigner and not a US citizen.
Preska ruled that FCPA has provisions allowing foreign nationals working as agents for entities registered in the US to be indicted for violations of the act.
In a six-page paper filed to court on Wednesday, the prosecution reiterated its assertion that a non-US resident serving as director or representative of US-based organisation could be brought under a FCPA charge.
The government cited the case of Macau businessman Ng Lap Seng, who was jailed under a similar FCPA charge.
