Both sides seek out top overseas lawyers in Kwok brothers graft trial
Heavyweight with a 95pc conviction rate likely to face fraud specialist involved in Assange case
The billionaire Kwok brothers' bribery trial is set to become a battleground of expensive overseas lawyers, as both the prosecution and the defendants reach outside the city to secure top legal talent for the case.
On the government side is likely to be Lord Kenneth MacDonald QC, the former Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales, who has been credited with conviction rates of up to 95 per cent.
The defence team may include former British deputy high court judge and fraud specialist Clare Montgomery QC, who recently acted for the Swedish government in its bid to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The news emerged yesterday when Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos SC applied for the case to be adjourned until next year to allow the prosecution to seek court permission to hire MacDonald.
Graft-busters have charged Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong, 61, and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, 59 - the co-chairmen of Sun Hung Kai Properties - and former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan, 64, with bribery and misconduct in public office. The Kwoks allegedly paid Hui more than HK$34 million in bribes.
Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, 66, Sun Hung Kai's executive director, and Francis Kwan Hung-sang, 62, a former Hong Kong Stock Exchange official, have been charged with conspiring with the Kwoks to offer some of the bribes.