There's a politically awkward but intriguing link between a former Caltrans employee accused of trying to smuggle U.S. satellite technology to China and the Chinese company making the new Bay Bridge eastern span.

At the center of the case is ex-Caltrans engineer Philip Chaohui He, also known as Philip Hope, who was indicted in Colorado this month for allegedly trying to smuggle high-tech parts out of the country in boxes marked "milk powder."

Besides working on the Bay Bridge, He allegedly moonlighted as the only employee of an electronic-instrument company on Webster Street in downtown Oakland.

On Dec. 11, according to the 18-page indictment, He showed up at the Port of Long Beach with five boxes of high-tech components - labeled in Chinese - in the trunk of his car. He then parked in a secure area where a ship owned by Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. Ltd., or ZPMC, was docked.

ZPMC - which is owned by the Chinese government - is the fabricator of the huge steel tower and road decks for the new $6.3 billion Bay Bridge eastern span. He worked on the project as a technical engineer.

The ship had recently arrived from Shanghai and was scheduled to return home four days later.

"One of the men that the defendant met with possessed a (Chinese) passport," the indictment says.

The U.S. attorney's office isn't talking about the case, but a source familiar with the investigation tells us the feds are looking into rumors He was working with the Chinese government. They say he certainly needed overseas help to carry out the attempted smuggling.

The indictment says He traveled from Mexico City to Shanghai in early September - but if that's the case, it apparently was not in his official capacity working for Caltrans.

Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said He never had occasion to travel to China for work in the 3 1/2 years he was employed by Caltrans. Nor did the engineer have any contact with ZPMC in his assignment reviewing bridge documents and answering questions for the project's joint-venture contractor, American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises, Ney said.

Well, that's not quite the story we got from Jim Yang, the ZPMC representative on the Bay Bridge project. As he tells it, he got to know He while working on the bridge job, and although they didn't socialize, they had a "working relationship."

In early December, he said, He "called me to say he had some stuff ... like clothing and gifts and fish oil ... which was left by our employee previously on the job site - all personal stuff."

According to Yang, He said he had heard there was a ZPMC ship docked in Long Beach, and asked if he could bring the personal belongings down south to be shipped back to China.

Yang said he wondered why He would want to drive seven hours to make the delivery, but he had replied, "Fine."

"So he drove down by himself with a couple of boxes in his vehicle," Yang said. "And we had dinner together because he was doing us a favor."

The next morning, Yang said, He followed him in his car to the Port of Long Beach, where they entered the ZPMC dock site using Yang's security badge.

Yang said the two men got out of their cars and exchanged pleasantries, when suddenly Department of Homeland Security agents descended on them and asked which one was He.

"He answered, and so they booked him right there," Yang said. "I thought it was a mistake."

As for whether ZPMC was in any way in cahoots with He?

"Let me say it very clearly," Yang said. "We have no knowledge whatsoever - either my company or any ZPMC employee - of what he is up to."

Randy Rentschler, spokesman for the regional Bay Area Toll Authority, which is overseeing the new bridge's financing, called the situation "unfortunate." He said ZPMC was picked when the project's cost was a real worry and "our goal was to find a competent steel manufacturer who would deliver on a timely basis."

Rentschler added, "No doubt, when you throw an espionage case into the mix, it becomes about national security as well. But all of this was done above board, following the rules."

He's federal public defender, Robert Pepin, said he was unaware of any ZPMC connection to the case.

As for whether He, who has pleaded not guilty, was an agent of the Chinese government?

"I'm not in a position to talk about that," Pepin said.

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