前香港高官涉嫌代表中国华信贿赂非洲官员 | The New York Times
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原标题：U.S. Bribery Case Sheds Light on Mysterious Chinese Company
前香港高官涉嫌代表中国华信贿赂非洲官员
原作者：ALEXANDRA STEVENSON
编辑& 校对：Hailee
Patrick Ho flew to New York in fall 2014. His intention, according to the Justice Department, was to bribe African officials on behalf of a private Chinese conglomerate with global ambitions and enormous wealth.
2014年秋，何志平(Patrick Ho)去了一次纽约。根据司法部的说法，他意图代表一个财力雄厚、志在全球的中国私营企业集团贿赂非洲官员。
In meetings at the United Nations, Mr. Ho, a former Hong Kong civil servant, laid the groundwork for millions of dollars of payments to the president of Chad and Uganda’s foreign minister in exchange for oil rights in the two countries, federal prosecutors say.
联邦检察官称，在联合国会议上，前香港公务员何志平同乍得总统和乌干达外交部长进行接触，为后来的交易奠定了基础，以数以百万计美元的报酬换取这家中国企业在两国的各种石油权利。
The accusations against Mr. Ho, detailed in a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan, became public this week after officials charged him and Cheikh Gadio, a former Senegalese official who acted as a fixer for Mr. Ho, with international money laundering and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Mr. Gadio was arrested on Friday and Mr. Ho on Saturday, the Justice Department said.
一份于曼哈顿提交的刑事起诉书详细列举了对何志平的指控，检察官指控他和曾为他从中安排的前塞内加尔官员谢赫·加迪奥(Cheikh Gadio)有贿赂行为，该起诉书于本周公开。加迪奥和何志平分别于周五和周六被捕。
The complaint does not name the Chinese company Mr. Ho represented, but the specifics of the case make clear the company’s identity: CEFC China Energy Company.
Details outlined by the Justice Department reveal the innovative tactics the company pursued to secure coveted oil rights in Chad and Uganda through its nonprofit think tank in Hong Kong. Mr. Ho was an executive at the nonprofit.
该起诉书并没有提及何志平所代表的中国公司的名字——中国华信能源有限公司(CEFC China Energy Company)。但是，起诉书中表示，华信通过它在香港的非盈利智库寻求进入乍得和乌干达的新途径，以获得令人垂涎的石油权利。何志平曾任这家智库的高管。
CEFC has risen suddenly from a little known Chinese company to a major player in the global energy business, with investments in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. In September, the Chinese conglomerate took a $9 billion stake in Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned energy giant and a subject of sanctions by the United States.
华信原本是个在中国以外籍籍无名的企业，近年来迅速崛起为全球业务的重要参与者。该公司在欧洲、中东、中亚和非洲进行投资，但其最重要的举措是买下俄罗斯国家石油财团(Rosneft)90亿美元的股权，该财团是俄罗斯最重要的石油公司，也是美国的制裁对象。
CEFC has played to China’s geopolitical ambitions. It is among a small number Chinese companies to receive Beijing’s approval to chase splashy deals at a time when the government has mostly restricted overseas acquisitions. The investments have largely meshed with China’s strategy to court other countries through infrastructure and energy investment.
在北京对大量海外收购进行限制的同时，华信是中国少数几家获得批准的公司之一，可以继续进行引人瞩目的大笔交易，原因是它的投资基本与中国通过提供基础设施投资讨好其他国家的努力相吻合。
Chinese businesses like CEFC are increasingly mixing money with diplomacy as they scour the world to secure valuable natural resources. The criminal complaint against Mr. Ho shows how the practice can be distorted, offering rare insight into a vast, mysterious conglomerate.
华信的扩张进一步表明，中国企业正在日益将金钱和外交混合使用，以便在世界上大肆搜寻、获取宝贵的自然资源。对何志平的刑事诉讼令人们对这样的做法有了一些了解，并且揭示出一个神秘而庞大企业集团。
CEFC provides all of the financing for the China Energy Fund Committee, a Hong Kong research organization. The conglomerate’s founder, Ye Jianming, is listed as a chairman on the think tank’s website.
华信为香港研究机构中华能源基金会(China Energy Fund Committee)提供全部资金。华信创始人叶简明在该智库网站上被列为董事长。
Through Mr. Ho, the think tank brokered the approaches to officials in Chad and Uganda, prosecutors say. Details included in the complaint about the company and think tank were confirmed by news releases from the CEFC’s website.
检察官称，通过何志平的运作，该智库成了华信同乍得和乌干达接洽背后的力量，起诉书中的细节可以被该公司网站发布的新闻进一步证实。
In a statement, CEFC disputed the allegations. It said it was “highly concerned” about the action taken against Mr. Ho, a former home affairs secretary in Hong Kong, and added that the think tank did not “get involved in business activities of CEFC.”
华信在一份声明中对这些指控提出了异议。它表示，公司对这些针对香港前民政事务局局长何志平所采取的行动“高度关切”，并称该智库没有“参与华信的业务活动”。
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CEFC has emerged from obscurity in recent years as a major player in the China’s plans for a modern day Silk Road, scooping up businesses in the oil, travel and financial industries in the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Spain and the Middle East. Along the way, it has grown into a behemoth with revenue of nearly $40 billion in 2015, according to corporate disclosures.
近年来，华信在中国打造现代丝绸之路的计划中脱颖而出，成为业界翘楚，在捷克、哈萨克斯坦、西班牙和中东开展石油、旅游和金融业务。在这个过程中，它已经成长为一个庞然大物。根据该公司披露，其2015年的收入接近400亿美元。
Mr. Ye, who was 25 when he started the company, has been both a corporate leader and a diplomatic envoy of sorts, posing for photographs with leaders like President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, and President Idriss Déby of Chad. He has also met with Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state, and Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman.
叶简明创办公司时只有25岁，既是公司领导，又要充当它的“外交使节”。他曾与土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安(Recep Tayyip Erdogan)、欧盟委员会(European Commission)主席让-克洛德·容克(Jean-Claude Juncker)和乍得总统伊德里斯·德比(Idriss Déby)等世界领导人合影。他还曾会见过美国前国务卿亨利·基辛格(Henry Kissinger)和美联储前主席艾伦·格林斯潘(Alan Greenspan)。
His think tank holds special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. According to its website, it has organized conferences “on world civilizations to explore common ethics” that have featured senior American military officials and Chinese People’s Liberation Army generals.
他的智库在联合国经济及社会理事会(United Nations Economic and Social Council)拥有特别顾问席位。据其网站介绍，它曾多次组织以“不同文明探讨共同道德观”为主题的研讨会，参与者包括美国高级军官和中国人民解放军将领。
In China, CEFC has become a prominent corporate player. Its oil storage facilities in Hainan Province are leased to the state-owned giant ChemChina as part of the country’s strategic reserves. The company also has joint ventures with the state-backed China State Shipbuilding, China Railway and Guangdong Material Reserve Administration.
在中国，华信已经成为一个重要的公司参与者。作为国家战略储备的一部分，它将自己在海南省的石油储存设施出租给国有巨头中国化工集团公司。该公司还与国家支持的中国船舶工业集团、中国铁路总公司和广东储备物资管理局合作，建立合资企业。
CEFC has sought major oil deals outside China, playing a major role in One Belt One Road initiative to bring developing countries on China’s periphery closer to its orbit through infrastructure projects.
华信力图在中国之外开展重大石油交易，在“一带一路”计划中发挥重要作用，该计划通过基础设施建设项目，将中国周边地区的发展中国家纳入中国的轨道。
In September, CEFC agreed to take the stake in Rosneft. In October, Chan Chauto, the company’s president, met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at an investment forum in Moscow.
9月，华信同意收购俄罗斯国家石油财团的股份；10月，公司总裁陈秋图在莫斯科的一个投资论坛上会见了俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·V·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)。
CEFC also has a joint venture with Kazakhstan’s national oil company, KazMunayGas International, which has given it access to a network of oil and gas terminals in Europe.
华信还与哈萨克斯坦国家油气公司(KazMunayGas International)建立了合资企业，令华信得以进入欧洲的石油和天然气运输网络。
It was the company’s pursuit of oil rights in Africa that attracted the Justice Department’s attention.
但是该公司对非洲石油权利的追求引起了司法部的关注。
Mr. Ho met Mr. Gadio, a former foreign minister in Senegal, at the United Nations with a proposition, according to the complaint filed in Manhattan. CEFC wanted to expand its oil operations into Chad, and to do so with CNPC, a state-owned Chinese company facing a $1.2 billion fine in Chad for environmental violations.
根据在曼哈顿提起的诉讼，何志平在联合国与塞内加尔前外交部长加迪奥会晤，提出了一项建议。华信希望同中国石油天然气集团合作，将自己的石油业务扩张到乍得。中国石油天然气集团是一家中国国有企业，在乍得因违反环保规定面临12亿美元的罚款。
Mr. Gadio, who helped broker a peace agreement that ended the military conflict between Chad and Sudan, helped facilitate a CEFC pledge in early 2015 that it would make a $2 million “donation” to Mr. Déby for charitable causes, according to emails and documents obtained by the Justice Department.
加迪奥曾经促成一项和平协议，结束了乍得和苏丹的军事冲突。根据司法部获得的电子邮件和文件，2015年初，加迪奥利用自己与乍得总统德比的友谊促成了华信的捐款承诺——它将向德比“捐助”200万美元，用于慈善事业。
The pledge was intended to influence the government to give CEFC the exclusive rights to certain oil blocks, federal prosecutors say. In the end, the company acquired other oil rights from a Taiwanese company. But Chad’s fine against CNPC was ultimately lowered to $400 million, and CEFC is in talks to develop an oil project in the country with CNPC, according to the CEFC website. Mr. Ho is accused of paying Mr. Gadio $400,000 for his services.
联邦检察官表示，这一捐款承诺旨在影响政府，使其将某些石油区块的专有开采权授予华信。最后，华信从一家台湾公司手中收购了其他石油权利。但乍得对中国石油天然气集团的罚款最终降至4亿美元，据华信官网称，它正在与中国石油天然气集团协商，共同在乍得开发一个石油项目。何志平被指控曾为加迪奥提供的服务支付报酬。
In a statement, CEFC said its deal with the Taiwanese company was a “financial investment in Chad” that did not involve any other “interest” from the country’s government.
华信在一份声明中表示，它与那家台湾公司的交易是“在乍得的一项投资”，不涉及该国政府的其他任何“利益”。
Edward Y. Kim, Mr. Ho’s lawyer, declined to comment. Robert Baum, a lawyer for Mr. Gadio, said that his client’s “integrity and honesty have never been questioned. The current charges do not reflect the decades of work he has admirably and capably performed.”
何志平的律师爱德华·Y·金(Edward Y. Kim)拒绝置评。加迪奥的律师罗伯特·鲍姆(Robert Baum)表示，他的客户的“正直和诚实从未遭到质疑；目前的指控没有反映出他几十年工作中令人钦佩的出色表现。”
Around the time that Mr. Ho met with Mr. Gadio, he also initiated contact with Uganda’s foreign minister, Sam Kutesa, according to the complaint. Mr. Kutesa had just become president of the United Nations General Assembly, according to the Justice Department. Over the course of a year, the two struck up a friendship, the complaint says.
据起诉书称，在何志平与加迪奥会面前后，他也开始同乌干达外交部长萨姆·库泰萨(Sam Kutesa)接触。据美国司法部称，当时库泰萨刚开始担任联合国大会(United Nations General Assembly)主席。起诉书称，在一年的时间里，两人结下了友谊。
By 2015, Mr. Kutesa, in his General Assembly role, had appointed Mr. Ye as a “special honorary adviser,” officials said.
据美国官员称，2015年，库泰萨以联合国大会主席的身份任命叶简明为“特别荣誉顾问”。
When Mr. Kutesa returned to his position as Uganda’s foreign minister, he solicited a payment from Mr. Ho in the form of a donation for a charitable foundation that he planned to launch, according to the Justice Department. The payment was actually in exchange for oil contracts, according to U.S. officials. Mr. Ho wired $500,000 into a bank account designated by Mr. Kutesa, who is not charged in the criminal complaint.
据美国司法部称，库泰萨回到乌干达继续担任外交部长后，向何志平索要了一笔捐款，捐给他计划启动的一个慈善基金会。据美国官员称，这笔钱实际上是用来交换石油合同。何志平将50万美元汇入了库泰萨指定的银行账户。库泰萨没有受到刑事指控。
The Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment. CEFC said it had no investment in Uganda.
乌干达外交部没有回应置评请求。华信表示，它在乌干达没有任何投资。
Two weeks after the complaint says the money was wired, Mr. Kutesa’s wife sent a note to Mr. Ho, expressing the couple’s thanks to Mr. Ye of CEFC.
在该起诉书所说的汇款完成两周后，库泰萨的妻子给何志平发了一个便笺，代表丈夫向叶简明表达谢意。
“Let me seize this opportunity,” she wrote, “to convey our gratitude to the chairman for his contribution to our foundation.”
她写道，“请允许我在此感谢董事长为我们基金会所做的贡献。”
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