Patrick Ho case update: the prisoner and the oil baron

09 Mar 2018

Former Hong Kong Home Secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping has been jailed in Manhattan since November 2017 and repeatedly denied bail as he awaits trial on charges that he made millions of dollars in bribes to African officials to obtain lucrative oil rights for Chinese conglomerate CEFC. It’s my hypothesis that that the Trump administration is using the case to put a spotlight on Chinese corruption in Africa -- something many academics, politicians and business people have long suspected but found difficult to prove.

What does it mean to do justice?

26 Feb 2018

 

 

Is the Patrick Ho bribery trial politically motivated?

07 Feb 2018

Former Hong Kong senior official Patrick Ho, jailed in New York on bribery charges, was denied bail for a second time yesterday after  judge Katherine Forrest ruled that he presented a flight risk. In denying bail, the judge questioned the argument of Ho’s defense lawyer -- Edward Kim -- that Ho would not flee because doing so would ruin his reputation, which he prizes.

Changing the way we think about law

01 Feb 2018

The health of our societies is directly connected to the way law works in them. 

Video: Precht on Patrick Ho's Corruption Trial

29 Jan 2018

My talk at the Foreign Correspodents' Club of Hong Kong about the U.S. bribery prosecution against former Hong Kong official Patrick Ho and its far-reaching implications. 

Notes of Experts Meeting on China and human rights

15 Dec 2017

The weakened immune system in this case is the West’s unwillingness to defend its own values.

How fair do we have to be?

11 Dec 2017

The flood of sex harassment accusations and of careers destroyed raises an important question. How much fairness do we owe to those who are accused?  

Time for the Big Two to rethink their China strategy

29 Nov 2017

The lack of evidence of effectiveness should prompt Amnesty and HRW to rethink their China strategy in a deep way.

Does Hong Kong need more think tanks?

21 Nov 2017

The rationale for think tanks is that they are idea factories -- sources of new thinking that may not occur to or be favored by governments. 

False Advertising by Foreign Universities in China

19 Nov 2017

Foreign universities in China are exposing themselves to big fines for false advertising. 

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