Rafael Hui Trial Revealed Rotten Heart of Hong Kong Government, Says Prosecutor David Perry QC

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1632609/rafael-hui-trial-revealed-rotten-heart-hong-kong-government-says

The heart of Hong Kong government was “rotten” when former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan pocketed multimillion-dollar bribes from billionaire property developers, prosecutors said as they began wrapping up one of the city’s biggest ever graft trials today.

Starting a four-day closing submission summing up more than 100 days of evidence, lead prosecutor David Perry QC said it was a “simple case of misconduct in public office” by Hui.

The actions of the co-defendants, Sun Hung Kai Properties co-chairmen and brothers Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, bore “all the hallmarks of bribery”.

“There was something rotten at the heart of the government of Hong Kong,” said Perry. “[Hui] put his own private interest before his public duty. It is about collusion between business and government.

“The prosecution has to say with regret that the defendants have told lies,” he added.

Perry said Hui’s earlier role as managing director of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) was also “hopelessly compromised” because of his “divided loyalty”.

The prosecutor asked the nine jurors not to judge Hui morally in the face of evidence about his luxurious lifestyle and spending sprees.

“He needed money to fund his immoderate and luxurious lifestyle – that’s not a criticism, that’s not a moral judgment,” Perry said.

Hui “is not on trial for his love of gourmet food, fine wine or companionship of women,” the prosecutor added.

Hui and Thomas Kwok had testified that the alleged bribes were part of a secret oral agreement made with Hui stipulating that HK$30 million be paid for two years’ consultancy between 2003 and 2005.

But Perry said: “The oral agreement is a fictitious invention of the defendants, a convenient attempt to explain away what was a bribe.”

Hui “abused” his public office, Perry said. “He was not candid, he was not truthful, he was not open about his relationship with the Kwoks ... because he received these bribes.”

He challenged the co-defendants’ testimony that the almost identical sums of money that left the Kwoks and arrived to Hui were coincidental. “An assertion of coincidence is not an explanation; it’s simply taking refuge in the denial of the connection,” he said.

“Each of the defendants, when they found themselves in difficulty, sought sanctuary in the claim of ignorance or absence of knowledge.”

When Hui was head of MPFA, he voted in favour of the public body’s renewal of its office lease in the IFC tower co-managed by SHKP. “Rather than acting with integrity, he deliberately suppressed the truth about his relationship with the Kwoks,” Perry said.

As chief secretary and later a non-official member of the Executive Council, Hui handled the West Kowloon Cultural District project, in which SHKP had an interest.

Hui, 66, faces eight charges related to bribery and misconduct in public office.

Thomas Kwok, 63, faces one charge of conspiracy to offer an advantage to Hui and two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

Raymond Kwok, 61, faces four charges, including one with Hui of furnishing false information. SHKP executive director Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, 68, and former Hong Kong stock exchange official Francis Kwan Hung-sang, 63, each face two charges.

All have pleaded not guilty. The trial continues before Mr Justice Andrew Macrae.