Cheyenne Chan tells bribery trial she and former Hong Kong government official Wilson Fung loved one another but she never tried to use money to keep him
- Businesswoman said she withheld information about her shares and directorships from Fung and he did likewise about government business
- Both Chan and Fung have admitted to a 13-year affair, which he did not declare to his superiors, while handling applications from her companies
A businesswoman who is on trial for bribing a former Hong Kong official told a court on Thursday that they had genuinely loved each other and she had never tried to use money to keep him by her side.
Cheyenne Chan Ung-iok, 63, a sister-in-law of gaming tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun, said she had kept former deputy secretary for economic development and labour Wilson Fung Wing-yip, 55, in the dark about her shares and directorships while he kept mum about government policies – despite their affair of nearly 13 years.
She also told the District Court that she had never tried to use money to keep Fung, nor did she get the impression that he wanted to exploit her for monetary advantage.
“You genuinely loved him,” Fung’s defence counsel Joseph Tse Wah-yuen SC said. “He genuinely loved you.”
“Yes,” Chan replied.
Chan is accused of offering an advantage to a public servant by paying the initial deposit of HK$510,000 (US$65,000) for Fung’s purchase of a flat at One Robinson Place in Mid-Levels. The former official is married to Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee, who heads the government’s Policy Innovation and Coordination Office, and is mother to his 17-year-old daughter.
Prosecutors alleged Fung deliberately concealed an obvious conflict of interest by not declaring his relationship with Chan while he handled various aviation-related applications from her part-owned companies.
Chan has denied the allegations, while Fung pleaded not guilty to charges of a public servant accepting an advantage and misconduct in public office.
Wilson Fung’s lover claims she forgot about HK$510,000 flat deposit
Each has testified to their involvement in an affair since 2003, which according to Chan ended in April 2016 when newspapers uncovered their relationship.
On Thursday, Chan said her daughter felt “very angry” when she learned about the affair through media reports, taking a hostile attitude towards Fung as she was concerned that he might be in it for himself. So Chan visited her daughter in New York the following October to explain why she had kept the affair a secret.
“I was the other woman,” Chan wrote in a little black book she reportedly carried during her trip. “I myself also felt that it was wrong. How could I have told you? He took good care of me.”
One page of the notebook had the term “flat-swapping” underlined, with the words “offer bride” written below and crossed out. She also wrote “air traffic rights”, “eliminate evidence” and “can we talk” on the same page.
Tycoon Stanley Ho’s sister-in-law and ex-official Wilson Fung had private relationship, court told
When asked to explain these writings, Chan said she had jotted them down in case she forgot to discuss them with her counsellor during her regular sessions.
Chan was also shown a spiral notepad seized from her office, in which she recorded various company matters including Heli Express’ bid to expand the heliport at the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, tendered in July 2006 while she was chief executive.
“Have recruited a person who used to be a very senior member of the government’s economic bureau and civil aviation bureau to help,” she wrote. “I am confident of winning the bid, so long as AT does not cause trouble.”
In court, Chan identified “AT” as her business partner Andrew Edward Tse and explained that these notes were records of her conversation with Stanley Ho but that she did not know the identity of this senior official.
“Boss would ask me stuff,” she continued. “Sometimes, when it was not really clear, or I didn’t know what he was referring to, I would jot it down.”
Fung’s counsel observed: “You gave me the impression that your memory didn’t serve you very well. You needed to write things down right away.”
“You could say that,” Chan replied.
Former Hong Kong official accused of concealing bribe by sister-in-law of gaming tycoon Stanley Ho
She further agreed with Tse’s suggestion that she could no longer remember details of her conversation with Fung on how the flat came to become his after she paid for the initial deposit.
But she remembered that she did not ask why Fung’s name had appeared in her company’s application for helipad rent reduction, nor tell him that she had signed off the letter copied to him on May 25, 2005.
Chan will be cross-examined by the prosecution before district judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong on Friday.
