Former HKEX IPO-vetting co-head faces corruption charges in cash-for-favours scandal
- Former HKEX IPO-vetting co-head Yeoh and consultant Lum both pleaded not guilty to three corruption charges
- Yeoh failed to disclose HK$9.15 million of cash paid by Lum into his wife’s account and their joint account and Jockey Club membership
A financial consultant paid HK$9.15 million (US$1.18 million) to a former stock exchange executive and got him a Hong Kong Jockey Club membership to approve stock listing applications, a District Court heard at a corruption trial.
The 61-year-old consultant, Richard Lum Chor-wah allegedly paid Eugene Yeoh Kim-loong, the former co-head of IPO-vetting team at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), to solicit his support in approving 12 initial public offerings (IPOs) between 2015 and 2019.
Lum and Yeoh, 44, are standing trial on corruption charges in the cash-for-favours scandal brought by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The trial began on Monday before judge Gary Lam Kar-yan and is expected to last for 30 days.
They both pleaded not guilty and were released on bail of HK$100,000 each on conditions they neither leave Hong Kong, nor interfere with witnesses. The hearing was adjourned to August 16.
The city’s graft busters arrested the duo in June 2019 and charged Yeoh in March 2020 for corruption. An additional charge related to the club membership was added on Monday. Lum was also charged for offering advantages to a public servant.
Senior public prosecutor Human Lam Hiu-man said Lum, who helped companies raise funds via IPOs, had recommended Yeoh to the Jockey Club as a racing member. Lum also paid HK$8.15 million into the bank account of Yeoh’s wife Hao Yuanyan from June 2017 to March 2019, and another HK$1 million into their joint account.