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Not guilty pleas in HK graft trial
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BILLIONAIRE brothers Thomas and Raymond Kwok, co-chairmen of Asia’s largest developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Hong Kong’s biggest corruption case since the anti-graft agency was formed 40 years ago.
The case has thrown a spotlight on the close relationship between the city’s powerful developers and government.
It involves payments and loans of over HK$35 million (US$4.5 million) suspected to have been paid to Rafael Hui, who headed the civil service from 2005 to 2007.
The three men, friends since childhood through family connections, confirmed earlier pleas of not guilty to all charges. The Kwoks face seven charges, including conspiracy to offer an advantage to a public servant, and Hui faces eight.
Hui, 66, faces three misconduct charges, including that of accepting rent-free use of two flats while head of Hong Kong’s retirement authority and two unsecured loans.
Thomas Chan, a board member in charge of land purchases at Sun Hung Kai Properties, and Francis Kwan, a former Hong Kong stock exchange official, have also been charged in the case and pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution and defendants have hired high-profile lawyers, with media reporting the Kwok brothers could spend more than HK$100 million in legal fees, the most ever paid in the city.
Hong Kong’s Court of First Instance will call over 80 witnesses during the trial, set to run for 70 days, local media reports said.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption arrested the tycoons in March 2012 in the agency’s biggest investigation since it was set up in 1974.
(Reuters)
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