According to Agence France-Presse, Hong Kong’s former deputy leader Rafael Hui and property tycoon Thomas Kwok have been jailed after being convicted of corruption.
Hui, 66, was sent to prison on Tuesday (23rd December) for seven and a half years after being found guilty of five graft charges, including misconduct in a public office, making him the highest-ranking official in Hong Kong’s history to be convicted of taking bribes.
Kwok, 63 – who was joint chairman of Hong Kong’s biggest property company, Sun Hung Kai – was sentenced to five years after he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office over a series of payments totalling HK$8.5m to Hui.
The seven-month trial centred on a total of HK$34m 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.
Raymond Kwok was cleared of all charges and Thomas cleared of two of the three against him.
Judge Andrew Macrae told Hui before sentencing: “To know that the former number two in government had received bribes must be a deep disappointment to many people in Hong Kong,” he said. “It is vitally important in these times the Hong Kong government and business community remain and are seen to remain corruption free, particularly when the mainland is taking obvious and positive steps to eradicate the cancer of corruption in their own jurisdiction.”
In sentencing Kwok, he said he had no doubt that he was “at heart a good man”. Macrae said he had considered a maximum sentence of six years but handed down one year less to account for Kwok’s good character.
Before the sentencing hearing, Macrae had described the case as difficult. “One is dealing with otherwise decent men who are not young, but who have committed serious offences,” he said, adding that going to prison would be a “particular hardship” for the defendants.
The payments to Hui were said to have been made via a series of complicated transactions involving middlemen.
Two middlemen, Sun Hung Kai former director Thomas Chan and Francis Kwan – the former non-executive director of investment firm New Environmental Energy Holdings – were also found guilty of two charges. Chan was sentenced to six years while Kwan was given five years.
- There are about 1.5 million legal weapons in Portugal
- Graça Freitas interview with RTP3 concerning current state of Covid-19
- State of Emergency Monitoring Structure Meeting and Security Forces Enforcement Report
- 1969 earthquake. The sea bubbled and the country took to the streets in pyjamas
- Covid-19 Portugal will buy about 38 million vaccines
- Mobil Internet Performance is worse in rural areas study shows
- Prime Minister speaks to the country after Council of Ministers Meeting
- Celebrations planned in 2022 to mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first train in Lagos
- United Kingdom and Italy with more impact at the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal
- Official Speech of the President of the Republic
- Infarmed meeting 22nd February 2021
- Covid-19: Project “Neighbours at the window” awarded the Civil Solidarity award
- The dark side of Valentine’s Day. More than 2,000 complaints of dating violence in 2020
- INFARMED meeting Lisbon 9th February 2021
- Aid requests to APAV’s Safe Internet Line increased 575.49% in 2020
