HONG KONG
The man who was once Hong Kong’s second most powerful politician was Tuesday jailed for seven-and-a-half years in the territory’s highest profile corruption case, local media reported.
Rafael Hui, Hong Kong’s chief secretary between 2005 and 2007, was sentenced alongside property tycoon Thomas Kwok, who received five years for a bribery scandal that exposed the cosy relationships between the former British colony’s business and political elites.
Passing sentence, Judge Andrew Macrae said Hui's breach of public duty and the trust placed in him added to his criminality, public broadcaster RTHK said.
Macrae described Hui, 66, as “one of the instigators as well as the beneficiaries of these conspiracies.”
He added it was regretful the case would do nothing to dispel the public perception of collusion between government and big business.
“To know the former No. 2 in government has received bribes must be a deep disappointment to many people in Hong Kong,” the South China Morning Post reported the judge as saying.
“It is vitally important in these times the Hong Kong government and business community remain and are seen to remain corruption-free.”
Addressing Kwok, the former co-chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties, Macrae said he recognized his good character. “Your good works earned you a well-deserved reputation as a genuinely motivated philanthropist, he said.
The trial heard that Kwok and his brother Raymond, who was acquitted of all charges, paid Hui to be their "eyes and ears" in government.
The case threw light on the city's social and economic elites in which a small number of tycoon-led families control much of the city's business sector, particularly real estate, and wield disproportionate political influence.
Hui was convicted of five charges relating to corruption and misconduct in public office.
Kwok, 63, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office – offering Hui 8.5 million Hong Kong dollars ($1.1 million) in 2005 for him to be "favorably disposed" to Sun Hung Kai, Hong Kong’s largest property company.
He was fined 500,000 Hong Kong dollars while Hui was ordered to pay the territory’s government almost 11.2 million Hong Kong dollars – equivalent to the bribe he had accepted.
Middlemen Thomas Chan and Francis Kwan received prison sentences of six and five years respectively. Chan was also fined 500,000 Hong Kong dollars.
Hui had been a leading member of the territory’s upper echelons. Among the esteemed positions he held over the years were steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, vice chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society and honorary secretary of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society.
He was a holder of two of the territory's highest honors, the Grand Bauhinia Medal and the Gold Bauhinia Star.
After retiring as chief secretary he served as an unofficial member of Hong Kong’s executive council until 2009.
The Kwoks belong to Hong Kong’s third richest family, with a $14.4 billion fortune, according to Forbes magazine.
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