Hong Kong Developer Hit With Bribery Charges
Announcement posted by DesignBuild Source 17 Jul 2012
In an ongoing scandal that has shaken the foundations of Hong Kong’s property development and construction industry, several people associated with Hong Kong’s second largest property development firm, including the company’s co-chairmen, have been charged with bribery-related offenses.
On Monday, the Independent Commission Against Corruption charged Thomas and Raymond Kwok, the co-chairmen of Sun Hung Kai Properties, with bribery and public misconduct. Ex-chief secretary Rafael Hui, Sun Hung Kai’s executive director Thomas Chan, and Francis Kwan, a former official of the Hong Kong stock exchange, have also been charged with graft-related offences.
The charges follow the April arrest of the aforementioned parties, along with the Kwoks’ elder brother Walter Kwok, who was not charged.
The charges relate to allegations that the Kwok brothers and two others paid more than $HK34 million between 2000 and 2009 to then-public sector official Rafael Hui in return for ‘favours’.
Though the precise nature of these favours has not yet been disclosed, it is believed that these related to government land tenders; during that period, Hui held the positions of executive chairman, chief secretary and chairman of the steering committee of the West Kowloon Cultural District Project during the period.