Raymond Kwok (left) and Thomas Kwok, then co-chairmen of Sun Hung Kai Properties, meet the media at the company’s annual general meeting in November 2014. Photo: Edward Wong
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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2188893/jailed-mogul-thomas-kwok-has-no-plans-get-back-hot-seat Law and Crime
Jailed mogul Thomas Kwok has no plans to get back in the hot seat at Sun Hung Kai Properties when he is released later this month, says brother
- Raymond Kwok says his brother, who is set to be freed from a five-year prison term for corruption, wants to spend more time on activities at his church
- Kwok was convicted of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office in 2014 for bribing former chief secretary Rafael Hui
Former Sun Hung Kai Properties co-chairman Thomas Kwok arriving at the Court of Final Appeal in Central in May 2017. Photo: Felix Wong
Jailed Hong Kong property mogul Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong has no plans to return to Sun Hung Kai Properties when he regains his freedom in just over two weeks after serving most of a five-year term for corruption, his brother Raymond Kwok Ping-luen said.
Speaking in Beijing on Wednesday, Raymond Kwok, chairman and managing director at SHKP, said the Kwok family was overjoyed that Thomas Kwok would soon be released.
“So far, there is no such plan [for Thomas to return to SHKP]. He would like to spend more time on church activities and other personal matters. He may also have plans to travel,” Raymond Kwok said on the sidelines of the “two sessions” in Beijing, the annual gathering of China’s political elites.
Raymond Kwok is a delegate to the country’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
“Of course we are very happy. His family, our mother and I are definitely happy. We have waited for so many years,” he said.
Kwok said he would meet his brother when Thomas walks free from Stanley Prison on 21 March and he hoped they will go hiking together.
When Thomas Kwok gets out, the former joint chairman of SHKP will have served two-thirds of his sentence, reduced for good behaviour.
Kwok, now 67, was convicted of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office in December 2014, for bribing the city’s former No 2 official, Rafael Hui Si-yan. He was jailed for five years. The court also banned him from taking up a company director position for five years.
He has not been in prison continuously since 2014, gaining temporary freedom when he was bailed pending appeal in July 2016. But he was sent back to jail after losing his final appeal in June 2017.
Sun Hung Kai Properties headquarters in Wam Chai. Photo: AP
The corruption case centred on a payment of HK$8.5 million (US$1.1 million) he made to Hui via two middlemen just before Hui became chief secretary in 2005. After assuming office, Hui was in charge of projects – including Ma Wan Park and the West Kowloon Cultural District – in which Sun Hung Kai had a substantial interest.
A guidance letter issued by the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing last June stipulated that an individual may be deemed unsuitable to be a director of a listed company if his integrity is in serious doubt due to misconduct or offences of dishonesty. These include bribery, conspiracy to defraud, and provision of false and misleading testimony to regulators.
While the Main Board Listing Rules state that directors of a listed company must satisfy the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing that they have integrity, “this assessment is on a case-by-case basis,” the guidance letter said.