HK$4.125 million paid to Rafael Hui as a ‘special bonus’, court hears
SHKP executive gave ‘wrong impression’ Hui was still being paid after he left: Raymond Kwok
Sun Hung Kai Properties co-chairman Raymond Kwok Ping-luen denied in 2012 having any knowledge of any illegal payment or bribe to former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan, the High Court heard yesterday.
He said an SHKP executive had wrongly described the bonus as advance payment of Hui's consultancy fees from April 2005 to February 2006 - a "minor mistake" he said had "given a wrong impression that SHKP continued to pay Hui after he left the group".
Kwok's comments came from a statement submitted to the director of public prosecutions after graft-busters arrested him in March 2012. The statement was read out in court by a prosecutor yesterday.
Billionaire brothers Raymond Kwok and Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong, also SHKP co-chairman, are alleged to have let Hui live rent-free in two SHKP luxury flats in Happy Valley from February 2003 to June 2005, and to have paid tens of millions of dollars for Hui to be their "eyes and ears" in the government.
In the 2012 statement, Raymond Kwok rejected ICAC allegations and said he was a "stranger" to any graft payment allegedly transferred to Hui.
The Kwok family hired Hui for his "unique" talents, under a two-year contract paying out HK$4.5 million a year, he said. The rent-free arrangement was part of Hui's pay package from March 2004 to April 2005, he said.
When Hui resigned in March 2005 to prepare to become chief secretary in June, he requested the HK$4.125 million, equal to 11 months' wages under the unfinished contract, Kwok said.
Kwok agreed to it because it would be "embarrassing and damaging to the image of SHKP" if people, including Hui, thought the group mean by not paying up.
The bonus was to reward Hui for his excellent performance and valuable advice. He had recommended against SHKP increasing its investment in KMB amid high oil prices, and against knocking down the Redhill Peninsula estate to prevent complaints from green groups.
He had also advised SHKP not to join a Cheung Kong bid for the West Kowloon Cultural District, to prevent the public from seeing this as another property project.
Hui, 66, faces eight charges related to bribery and misconduct in public office. Thomas Kwok, 62, faces one charge of conspiracy to offer an advantage to Hui and two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Raymond Kwok, 61, faces four charges, including one with Hui of furnishing false information. SHKP executive director Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, 67, and former stock exchange official Francis Kwan Hung-sang, 63, each face two charges. All plead not guilty.
