Convicted HK tycoon, official lose appeals
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HONG Kong property tycoon Thomas Kwok and ex-deputy leader Rafael Hui yesterday saw their appeal bids against graft convictions rejected as they faced serving out their prison time.
The pair were found guilty of corruption in 2014 after a blockbuster trial over a cash for favors scandal. Francis Kwan and Thomas Chan, sentenced to five and six years respectively for acting as middlemen for the payments, also saw their appeals fail.
A written judgement to the court of appeal on Monday said: “The appeals against conviction of Rafael Hui, Thomas Kwok, Thomas Chan and Francis Kwan are dismissed.”
A frail-looking Hui and gray-haired Kwok were grim-faced during the hearing, which lasted less than a minute.
Former chief secretary Hui, 68, was the highest-ranking official in Hong Kong’s history to be found guilty of taking bribes.
The seven-month trial centred on a total of HK$34 million (US$4.4 million) in handouts, which the prosecution said were made to Hui by Kwok and his billionaire brother Raymond, to be their “eyes and ears” within the government.
Hui was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in December 2014, while 64-year-old Kwok — who was joint chairman of Hong Kong’s biggest property company Sun Hung Kai — was sentenced to five years.
The case shocked the city and deepened anger over cosy ties between officialdom and big business.
Kwok’s son Adam said the rejection of the appeal was “disappointing,” adding he hoped the case would be brought to the Court of Final Appeal.
“I personally believe in my heart that my father is innocent and that this is an unjust case,” he said outside court.
Maximum security
Hui, Kwok, Kwan and Chan are serving out their sentences in the maximum security Stanley Prison.
Raymond Kwok was cleared of all charges at last year’s trial.
During the appeal case, lawyer Edwin Choy challenged the legitimacy of an interview between the city’s graftbusters and Hui three years before he was arrested.
Choy argued Hui had not been put under caution by investigators before giving statements that could later become formal evidence.
Clare Montgomery, representing Kwok, said the court failed to identify any specific advantage that Kwok had received after paying Hui.
Monday’s full judgement rejected those arguments. Appeal court judge Michael Lunn said in the document that it was “not necessary” for the prosecution to prove the accused had agreed on a specific act of misconduct by Hui.
He added that the evidence pointed to the fact that Hui’s statement was “voluntarily made” and did not need to have been excluded by the original trial judge.
New graft cases have fueled public suspicions over links between authorities and business leaders.
In a separate high-profile corruption case, former leader Donald Tsang, who ended his term in disgrace after accepting favors from tycoons, has been charged with misconduct and will face trial next year.
Hui was Tsang’s chief secretary from 2005 to 2007. Tsang, 71, is the highest-ranking Hong Kong official to face a corruption trial. He pleaded not guilty to two misconduct charges in December.
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