Pro-Beijing lawyer, co-defendants in court for first time in Hong Kong corporate graft case

A prominent pro-Beijing lawyer and two others, who were last Saturday charged by the ICAC over the advantage they offered to a director in an alleged bid to influence a restructuring company, today made their first appearance at Eastern Court.

Solicitor Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, 52, a delegate of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since 2003, appeared with his co-defendants Chui Chuen-shun, 61, and Richard Yin Yingneng, 62. They were not required to make a plea this morning on the charge of offering advantage to an agent, which would be a breach of section nine of the Prevention Bribery Ordinance.

Chui is the father of actress Cathy Tsui Chi-kei, who is married to Henderson Land heir Martin Lee Ka-shing.

The three are accused of offering a job opportunity in return for favours to a director of a listed company while it was being restructured.

Wong also faces a separate charge accusing him of offering HK$15 million worth of share options for HK$1.8 million to the same director in return for that person’s participation in a corporate takeover Wong was involved in. He was not required to make a plea for that charge, either.

In court, senior counsel Wong Man-kit, representing Kennedy Wong, asked for an adjournment for the defendants to consider matters in relation to their legal representatives.

The senior counsel also asked Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai to loosen a bail condition originally sought by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, demanding the defendants not to contact prosecution witnesses. The lawyer said it was because those witnesses included an assistant from Kennedy Wong’s law firm and two non-executive directors at his company, Hong Kong Resources Holdings, so contact in the course of work might be unavoidable.