Hui did not tell the whole truth about SHKP remuneration: Thomas Kwok
SHKP co-chairman also tells graft trial he no longer considers former chief secretary a friend
Rafael Hui Si-yan "did not tell the whole truth" about his remuneration from Sun Hung Kai Properties when he became chief secretary in 2005, a co-chairman of the group told a court yesterday.
Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong also said he no longer considered Hui, a former SHKP consultant, a friend after ICAC investigations unfolded in 2009, a contrast to Hui's attitude in his earlier testimony.
On his first day of cross-examination by lead prosecutor David Perry QC, Kwok said the terms he secretly offered Hui in 2003 - HK$30 million for two years - were second to none in the company in a year plagued by political turmoil and the Sars outbreak. That year, no one in SHKP received any bonus.
Kwok is accused of bribing Hui to the tune of millions of dollars to be SHKP's "eyes and ears" in government before Hui took up the post as the city's No2 official. But Kwok said the sums were part of a deal concealed from family members, who only agreed to pay Hui HK$4.5 million a year.
When Hui faced the media for the first time as chief secretary, he dismissed questions suggesting that he had received "more than HK$10 million" from the Kwoks. Thomas Kwok said yesterday: "Strictly speaking, that was not a lie. Sun Hung Kai paid him HK$9 million only."
But he admitted that Hui "did not tell the whole truth".