Two brothers from Hong Kong’s second-richest family and a former top government official were charged with corruption on Friday.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the city’s anti-graft body, has charged five people in total with offences related to bribery and misconduct in public office that allegedly took place between June 2000 and January 2009.
Thomas and Raymond Kwok, the joint chairmen of Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Chan Kui-yuen, an executive director at SHKP, and Francis Kwan Hung-sang, a former senior staff at the Hong Kong stock exchange, are alleged to have paid the former Chief Secretary for Administration Rafael Hui for information related to land sales. Hui is accused of receiving a series of payment and the rent-free use of two apartments.
The arrests and subsequent charges come amid widespread anger and growing protests among Hong Kong people over the close ties between government officials and the city’s business tycoons.
Trading in SHKP’s shares was suspended this morning. The stock is down 14% since March 29, when Thomas and Raymond had been arrested by the ICAC. During a press conference in early April, Raymond said he and his brother Thomas had done nothing wrong and hoped the investigation would prove their innocence.
Walter Kwok, the eldest brother and executive director of SHKP, had been arrested in early May, but no charges have been filed against him.
The Kwok brothers had been ranked the second-wealthiest family in Hong Kong on the World’s Billionaires list, with a net worth valued at $18.3 billion in March. The majority of their fortune stems from SHKP, which had been co-founded by their father, Kwok Tak Seng, in 1958. As Hong Kong’s largest real-estate company, the company developed the city’s two tallest buildings, the International Finance Centre and the International Commerce Centre.
Walter had been the SHKP’s chairman for nearly two decades, until a feud with his brothers in 2008 saw him replaced by their mother, Kwong Siu-hing. Thomas and Raymond were later elected joint chairmen during the company’s last annual general meeting in December.