Raymond Kwok says SHKP paid Rafael Hui HK$4m ‘to avoid looking mean’
Prosecutor questions claim by co-accused that ex-official demanded cash after ending contract
Raymond Kwok Ping-luen claimed he paid Rafael Hui Si-yan HK$4.125 million, which Hui had demanded as consultancy fees from Sun Hung Kai Properties , because it would have been "embarrassing" not to pay, the Court of First Instance heard.
The SHKP co-chairman said refusal to pay up would have made his company look "downright mean".
Hui demanded the sum in April 2005 after he prematurely terminated a consultancy agreement that he had entered into with Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency the year before, Kwok said in an earlier submission to the prosecution.
That sum represented consultancy fees for the remaining 11 months of the agreement that he could not fulfil, the court heard.
Prosecutor David Perry QC said the payment was made at a time rumours were rife that Hui would soon be named chief secretary, an appointment that eventually came at the end of June that year.
Kwok agreed to the payment and scribbled on an invoice recovered from SHKP "OK in view of Mr Hui's excellent performance during his consultancy work with us for the past 13 months", the court heard.
Perry said Hui terminated the agreement because he was "gearing himself" to become chief secretary of the administration.