SHKP thought of paying Norman Chan HK$20m as consultant, court told

Monetary Authority head Norman Chan Tak-lam was once a candidate to be Sun Hung Kai Properties' consultant on an annual salary of up to HK$20 million, the graft trial involving former government No 2 Rafael Hui Si-yan heard yesterday.

The lead counsel for Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong cited Chan's candidacy to show why the SHKP co-chairman lured Hui in 2003 with HK$30 million over two years to take the job. That sum was not a bribe, as the prosecution alleged, Clare Montgomery QC said. Hui, who later became the government's chief secretary, was simply "a rare commodity" in great demand.

Chan did not win the favour of then SHKP chairman Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, who made notes on the consultancy negotiations. "Walter thought Norman Chan might not be worth it," Montgomery said in her closing submission. "But it shows the mentality of Walter and Thomas Kwok and how they were willing to pay large amounts of money for the right person."

Richard Li Tzar-kai had also wanted Hui's help with a political party and a newspaper, Montgomery said, without giving any specifics. Li had wanted Hui to be managing director of his firm PCCW, the High Court heard.

One reason Hui was important to SHKP was the end of British colonial rule, she said. "It was never clear [post-1997] whether the government would listen to the government in Beijing or people in the street."

An internal draft deal once proposed HK$10 million a year but required 70 per cent of Hui's office hours, she said. But Walter Kwok was indecisive and the final agreement reached was for only HK$4.5 million a year, and banned Hui from working for anyone else.

Hui would not have accepted the SHKP job had it not been for Thomas Kwok's covert promise to give him HK$15 million a year, when "there was competition [with] other very large offers".