Well-known face in HK securities charged
Francis Kwan Hung-sang, one of the five suspects to be charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in the Sun Hung Kai Properties probe, is a familiar figure in the city's stock and futures brokerage community.
Kwan, 61, was yesterday charged by the anti-graft body over alleged offences linked to bribery and misconduct in public office.
'He is a close friend of Rafael Hui,' said a source familiar with the matter.
Kwan has been involved in banking, investment and exchange operations in Hong Kong for more than 30 years and joined the Hong Kong Futures Exchange in May 1995. Three years later he was promoted to become chief operations officer of that exchange, which in 2000 merged with the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, and together with Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company formed Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.
Kwan was head of the group risk management division at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing before leaving it on April 1, 2004, according to a spokesperson for the exchange.
After leaving, Kwan ran a company called USP Enterprise, which sells supplement products aimed at preventing drunkenness.
Kwan served as an independent non-executive director of New Environmental Energy Holdings from June 15, 2006, to April 25, 2012. He served as an independent non-executive director of Tianjin Port Development Holdings from September 8, 2005, to April 1, 2012. He obtained a management development certificate from the University of British Columbia in Canada in 1989.
The Hong Kong Economic Journal reported in April that the ICAC had issued a notice demanding the securities account information of six Hong Kong securities dealers.
Kwan and Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, the Sun Hung Kai executive director in charge of land purchases, were two of the six names mentioned in the list. Both were charged by the ICAC yesterday.
