Big names make pleas for leniency as Hui and Thomas Kwok face sentencing for graft
Two high-profile figures set for sentence today at end of historic graft case
In a last-ditch effort to save Rafael Hui Si-yan from a harsh sentence, former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen yesterday extolled the "humongous contributions" of his one-time chief secretary who pocketed almost HK$20 million in bribes during his public service.
Tsang, who is himself a subject of corruption investigations, is among an array of big names from political, commercial, academic and religious circles pleading for leniency on behalf of two prominent figures convicted in the city's biggest graft case.
Hui and Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong are due to hear their sentences from Mr Justice Andrew Macrae today - on the 133rd day of the high-profile trial - along with former SHKP executive director Thomas Chan Kui-yuen and former Hong Kong stock exchange official Francis Kwan Hung-sang.
Thomas Kwok, until last Friday co-chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties, secured mitigation letters from property mogul and Henderson Land Development chairman Lee Shau-kee and the Most Reverend Paul Kwong, archbishop of the Anglican Church in Hong Kong and Macau.
Kwok's son, newly appointed SHKP executive director Adam Kwok Kai-fai, made a rare appearance in the High Court, while acquitted defendant and SHKP chairman Raymond Kwok Ping-luen also returned, taking a place in the public gallery instead of the dock. Uncle and nephew prayed together during a break.
READ IN FULL: Donald Tsang's letter to court on Rafael Hui
Tsang, who had been tight-lipped about the charges of bribery and misconduct in public office facing the man he picked to be his top aide between 2005 and 2007, said he was "devastated" on Friday to learn about the verdicts.