HK graft pair lose their final appeal
Print Edition
HONG Kong property tycoon Thomas Kwok and ex-deputy leader Rafael Hui will serve out their jail terms after their final appeals against graft convictions were dismissed yesterday.
The pair were found guilty of corruption in 2014 after a trial over a cash-for-favors scandal.
In a written judgment, the Court of Final Appeal ruled that they had been “properly convicted of the offense of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.”
Kwok had been on bail since July pending the appeal, but will now be back behind bars.
Former chief secretary Hui, 69, is the highest-ranking official in Hong Kong’s history to be found guilty of taking bribes.
The seven-month trial centred on some HK$34 million (US$4.3 million) in handouts, which the prosecution said were made to Hui by Kwok and his billionaire brother Raymond, to be their “eyes and ears” in government.
Hui was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in December 2014, while 65-year-old Kwok — who was joint chairman of Hong Kong’s biggest property company, Sun Hung Kai — was sentenced to five years.
Also jailed were former stock exchange official Francis Kwan (five years) and former executive director of Sun Hung Kai Properties Thomas Chan (six years).
Hui and Kwok will serve out their sentences in the maximum security Stanley Prison.
Raymond Kwok was cleared of all charges.
The judgment said Hui had been in “golden fetters” after he accepted a payment of HK$8.5 million shortly before he became deputy leader, when it was already known he would take up the position.
It added that the payment had been made to ensure an “ongoing inclination” on the part of Hui toward the Kwoks’ company.
Hong Kong has been seen as relatively graft-free. But new cases have fueled suspicion over links between authorities and business leaders in the city.
In a separate case, former leader Donald Tsang, who ended his term in disgrace after accepting favors, was jailed for 20 months in February after being found guilty of misconduct.
Hui was Tsang’s chief secretary from 2005 to 2007.
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