This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
BILLIONAIRE Kwok brothers, the co-chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), the world's second largest property developer, have pleaded not guilty on Friday to one of Hong Kong's largest corruption cases.
Thomas and Raymond Kwok, co-chairman of Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), were charged last year with bribing the HK government’s officials, following an investigation by HK’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
The bribery scandal has gone all the way to the top of the food chain, and allegedly involved the chief secretary of the special administration region, the HK government’s deputy in charge Rafael Hui, who was allegedly more than $US4.5 million for information on land sales between 2000 and 2009.
HK’s development minister Mak Chai Kwong was arrested along with three officials and an executive director of SHKP, Chan Kui-yuen and a businessman Francis Kwan Hung-sang have also been charged.
The corruption case involves a series of payments and unsecured allegedly paid to Hui through a number of financial entities by the four men.
Hui faces an additional charge, that of “misconduct in public office”, for allegedly failing to declare or concealing a series of payments totalling HK$11.182 million from Chan and Kwan.
Meanwhile prosecutors dropped a bribery charge against the younger Kwok brother, Raymond. Although he still faces two other criminal charges, including “conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office” and “furnishing false information” in an attempt to cover up the payment.
The Kwok brothers are ranked 26th on Forbes’ 2013 global billionaire rich list, up one position from 27th, after increasing their wealth by $US4 billion in 2012.
Property Review