Thomas Kwok still owes me HK$2 million for paying Rafael Hui, says Thomas Chan
SHKP executive director tells court his boss Thomas Kwok promised to repay him in three instalments, but the third cheque never came
Sun Hung Kai Properties co-chairman Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong still owes the company's executive director Thomas Chan Kui-yuen HK$2 million, which was part of a sum Kwok asked Chan to pay former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan in 2005, the High Court heard yesterday in the high-profile graft trial.
The trio, together with Kwok's younger brother Raymond Kwok Ping-luen and Hui's friend Francis Kwan Hung-sang, are defendants in the case.
Prosecutors say the two Kwok brothers, both SHKP co-chairmen, paid Hui HK$8.5 million and HK$11 million in 2005 and 2007, respectively, so he would be the company's "eyes and ears" in the government. Chan made the payments to Kwan via complex bank transactions.
In court yesterday, Chan - under examination by his lawyer Ian Winter QC - said his boss Thomas Kwok had on June 20, 2005, told him to pay Hui the HK$10.8 million balance that Kwok personally owed Hui as soon as possible, to avoid Hui having to declare the payment after taking on the city's chief secretary role on June 30.
Kwok said he would repay Chan in three cheques in order to hide the payments from his elder brother Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, then SHKP chairman, with whom Thomas Kwok did not have a good relationship, the court heard.
"Thomas Kwok said he did not want his mother or Walter Kwok to know about the payment," Chan said, adding that he never suspected the money could be payment for corruption.
But Kwok made only two payments to Chan: HK$4 million on June 20, 2005, and HK$4.8 million on June 28, 2005, the court heard.