Corruption case: US justice clears Cheikh Tidiane Gadio
The United States rejected a complaint of corruption against former Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio.
According to AgenceFP, the announcement of “the rejection of the complaint against Gadio,” was made by a spokesman for the US Department of Justice.
The US authorities arrested in November 2017 the former Senegalese minister and the former Hong Kong Minister of the Interior, Patrick Ho Chi Ping.
They were suspected of having set up a multi-million dollar corruption scheme in Africa on behalf of a major Chinese energy company.
The company has not been identified, but the name of conglomerate CEFC China Energy, the rising star of the Chinese energy industry based in Shanghai, appeared in the complaint filed in the Federal District Court of New York.
According to the complaint of the US Department of Justice, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio and Patrick Ho Chi Ping have offered a bribe of two million dollars to Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno “to obtain valuable oil rights.” Mr. Gadio was released on bail after several days in detention.
The Chadian leader also received another $500,000 bribe from an account designated by a Ugandan minister.
The Chadian president and CEFC have denied the charges that were based on the use by Cheikh Tidiane Gadio and Patrick Ho Chi Ping of the US banking system to process nearly a million dollars of earnings sent under cover of donations.
