Stage set for biggest graft trial in Hong Kong history

All eyes will be on the Court of First Instance today as the city's former No 2 official and the co-chairmen of one of the world's major real estate firms face trial in the biggest corruption court case in Hong Kong's history.

At issue is the HK$34 million in bribes and other financial inducements that former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan allegedly received from billionaire brothers Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, the chairmen of Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP).

Prominent names in government and business are among the 82 prosecution witnesses listed for a case that has become a cause célèbre for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and prosecution officials.

Scheduled to last 70 days, the trial before Mr Justice Andrew Macrae begins more than two years after Hui and the Kwoks were arrested in March 2012.

Listed as the first defendant, Hui stands accused of receiving financial inducements that included HK$28.8 million in cash, HK$5.4 million in loans and the rent-free use of two luxury flats in Happy Valley when he held key government positions between 2000 and 2009. Hui, 66, is the highest-ranking former official ever to face trial in the city.

According to the latest indictment issued by the prosecution in February, Hui faces eight criminal charges, five of which he shares with either or both of the Kwoks. They include conspiracy to offer an advantage to a public servant, misconduct in public office and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

The oldest accusations against Hui date back to 2000 when, it is alleged, he failed to disclose negotiations with SHKP for a "consultancy agreement" while he was managing director of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, a government body. The prosecution also says Hui received HK$2.4 million in unsecured loans from a company owned by SHKP.