Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa has been accused of soliciting $500000 bribe while President Of UN General Assembly in 2014.
He allegedly received the bribe from Chi Ping Patrick Ho, Hong Kong’s former Home Secretary who conspired with
Cheikh Gadio, a one-time foreign minister of Senegal, plotted to bribe high-level African officials to secure business rights.
According to US news channel Voice of America (VOA) Ho was arrested Saturday afternoon and appeared before a federal magistrate Monday, whereas Gadio, was arrested in New York on Friday afternoon and presented to a federal
magistrate Saturday.
Both remain in federal custody.
The Kutesa Scheme
The VOA reports that the complaint in Magistrates Court in New York alleges that the Uganda
Scheme began in or about October 2014, when HO met at the UN in New York, New York with the Ugandan Foreign Minister, who had recently begun his term as the 69th President of the UN General Assembly
(“PGA”).
“HO, purporting to act on behalf of the Energy NGO, met with the Ugandan Foreign Minister and began to cultivate a
relationship with him.
During the year that the Ugandan Foreign Minister served as PGA, HO and the Ugandan Foreign Minister discussed a “strategic partnership” between Uganda and the Energy Company for various business ventures, to be formed once the Ugandan Foreign Minister completed his term as PGA and returned to Uganda,” the complaint reads.
Adding that about February 2016 – after the Ugandan Foreign Minister had resumed his role as Foreign Minister of Uganda, and his in-law had been reelected as the President of Uganda – the Ugandan Foreign Minister
solicited a payment from HO, purportedly for a charitable foundation that he wished to launch.
Enter Museveni
“HO caused a $500,000 payment to be wired to an account in Uganda designated by the Ugandan Foreign Minister, through a bank in New York, New York.
In his communications, HO variously referred to this payment as a “donation” to the reelection campaign of the President of Uganda (who had already been reelected) and as a “donation” to “support” the Ugandan Foreign
Minister.
In fact, this payment was a bribe to obtain business advantages for the Energy Company in its efforts to secure contracts and ventures in Uganda’s financial and energy sectors,” the complaint further reads.
“HO also provided the Ugandan Foreign Minister, as well as the President of Uganda, with promises of future benefits, including proposing to partner with both officials’ family businesses in potential joint ventures.
In exchange, the Ugandan Foreign Minister assisted the Energy Company in obtaining business in Uganda, including by facilitating the Energy Company’s interest in potentially acquiring bank,” the complaint concludes.
Efforts to get a comment from Minister Kutesa were futile as he was not in the country.
No official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was willing to speak on this matter.