Hui was a 'rare artwork', not inside man for Kwoks, says defence lawyer
Defence lawyer says Kwok brothers got no special breaks from former chief secretary
Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong saw Rafael Hui Si-yan as being like a "rare piece of artwork" and was willing to spend millions for his services, the ex-chief secretary's counsel told jurors in his trial for graft yesterday.
But none of his government policies benefited Kwok or his brother Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, Edwin Choy Wai-bond said in his final submission in defence of Hui.
Choy dismissed as "mystifying" the prosecution's allegations Hui took bribes from the Kwoks, co-chairmen of Sun Hung Kai Properties, to be their "eyes and ears" in the government.
There was "every reason" for Hui to be "highly valued" and paid HK$30 million by Thomas Kwok for his consultancy advice from 2003 to 2005, the lawyer said.
"Mr Kwok [probably] wanted to outbid all his competitors," Choy told the High Court, likening the negotiation to an auction.
"If you bid aggressively, you could become the owner of a very rare piece of artwork, [although] the true value of the artwork may forever be difficult to answer."