Mystery man who paid HK$3 million to Rafael Hui Si-yan named in trial

A man named Law Cheuk was the mystery person who gave Rafael Hui Si-yan HK$3 million to pay rent on his Happy Valley flats just before he became chief secretary in mid-2005, the High Court heard yesterday.

The man's identity was revealed by ICAC investigator Hazel Law Pui-man, after she testified on Monday that the source of the money had nothing to do with the graft trial involving Hui and two property tycoons.

Hui allegedly lived rent-free in the two Sun Hung Kai Properties flats at the Leighton Hill from February 2003 to June 2005 - until he became the city's No 2 man - and received tens of millions of dollars from the developer's co-chairmen Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen to act as their "eyes and ears" in the government.

From July 2005, after Hui's appointment, SHKP started to collect HK$160,000 in monthly rent from him, the court heard earlier.

But before that, he got a HK$3 million cheque in June that covered the rent from July 2005 to December 2006, Hazel Law told the court on Monday.

Under questioning by lead prosecutor David Perry QC yesterday, Hazel Law said the cheque giver was Law Cheuk. She also explained the Independent Commission Against Corruption's interest in the money.

According to auditors' records, Hui's company, Top Faith Enterprises, had a total income of HK$12 million for two years until his appointment at the end of June 2005, Hazel Law said.