I wanted mother to pay for Hui deal: Thomas Kwok
Tycoon says matriarch should have reimbursed him for HK$18 million, including HK$5 million in fees he secretly paid former chief secretary
Property tycoon Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong told his graft trial that he wanted his mother to reimburse him HK$18 million, which included sums that the prosecution said were used to bribe former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan.
But Kwok could not bring himself to ask for the money ultimately, after witnessing the heartache she suffered from having to force out her eldest son, Walter, as chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties, the High Court heard yesterday.
Thomas Kwok, now SHKP co-chairman, said that out of the total, HK$5 million was part of the balance under a secret deal to pay for Hui's consultancy work.
The payment was made in 2005, two months before Hui was sworn in as chief secretary. Kwok denied it was a bribe for Hui to be SHKP's "eyes and ears" in government.
Another HK$7 million was given in 2008 to SHKP executive director Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, an alleged go-between for Kwok to channel bribes to Hui, as a bonus and was not meant for Hui, Kwok said.
Kwok said the bonus was to show gratitude to Chan as he felt sorry for him coming under criticism from then SHKP chairman Walter Kwok Ping-sheung.