Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho wanted to use Chinese oil money to buy influence of Republican Party politicians, court documents from trial reveal
- Evidence presented at trial shows ambition to influence politics in United States was discussed after 2014 midterms
- Senior members of GOP gave Ho insight into party thinking in run-up to 2016 presidential election
Disgraced former Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho wanted to use Chinese oil money to buy the influence of Republican members of Congress and conservative think tanks in the United States, court documents from his trial have revealed.
Ho told CEFC China Energy boss Ye Jianming in 2014 that cultivating that relationship could prove beneficial in the run-up to the presidential election two years later, which was won by Donald Trump and is the focus of a major investigation into Russian meddling.
In a proposal to the CEFC chairman, Ho wrote that two years of “dollar relations” could help lay the foundation for good US-China partnership in the future.
Ho is presently awaiting sentencing in the US having been found guilty on seven counts of bribery and money laundering in connection with CEFC’s deals with the African countries of Chad and Uganda. Ho was arrested in November 2017, while Ye is believed to be being held in mainland China in connection with another corruption investigation.
The Republican Party swept to power after the midterm elections in 2014, and that year Ho told Ye that it would be a good time to develop friendships with rising members of the party, who could “better understand China”.
