Sinkieland gets Honourable mention in Foreign Bribery Case

Apart from this fact
Trial is also useful
To see if there are any parallels elsewhere
Which is a question and not an assertion
Sun Hung Kai does have commercial interests
In Little Red Dot that 'll benefit from eyes and ears

Kwok brothers paid Rafael Hui to be their eyes and ears, prosecutor tells trial
One bribe of HK$4.7m was handed over just five hours before Hui was sworn in as city's No 2 official, the chief prosecutor tells trial

The Kwok brothers paid Rafael Hui Si-yan HK$4.7 million to act as their "ears and eyes" just five hours before he was sworn in as chief secretary in 2005, the High Court was told yesterday.

The allegation was made by head prosecutor David Perry QC as the corruption trial of Hui, Sun Hung Kai Properties chairmen Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen and two others got off to a delayed start at the Court of First Instance.

Hui, the city's former No2 official, also allegedly received two sums worth almost HK$20 million through an "elaborate disguise" that involved the other two defendants, so that the Kwoks could "melt into the background", Perry said.

"[Hui] had an important and influential role to play in the development and implementation of government policies," Perry said in his opening address.

"[He] also had access to highly confidential information in relation to matters in which SHKP had a profound and deep commercial interest."
By bribing Hui, whom they had known for two decades, the Kwoks had a "man on the inside" of government, Perry said.

He added that Hui used his position to "further his personal interests" and said: "His loyalty to the public was compromised and undermined."
Hui, 66, who is alleged to have received HK$34 million in cash and other inducements, faces eight charges related to bribery and misconduct in public office.

Thomas Kwok, 62, 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, also co-chairman, faces four charges, including one with Hui of furnishing false information. SHKP executive director Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, 67, and former Hong Kong stock exchange official Francis Kwan Hung-sang, 63, each face two charges. All have pleaded not guilty.

Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, an older brother of Thomas and Raymond, was not a defendant or witness but Perry said he would also be relevant in the trial.

"This case is about ... the concealment of important information from public view," he told the nine-member jury. "It is about secret and disguised payments made to a very, very senior public official in Hong Kong."

Perry said Hui was appointed to serve the people of Hong Kong. "All public officials, wherever in the world, have the duty of impartiality and obligation of candour and openness ... to serve the public is not to serve yourself."

The Kwoks, according to Perry's case, first paid Hui during "Hong Kong's political upheaval" around April 2005.

At that time, Hui was tipped to rejoin the government as chief secretary as the incumbent, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, was expected to succeed outgoing chief executive Tung Chee-hwa.

That month, Hui's account received HK$5 million from a cheque allegedly arranged by Thomas Kwok and deposited at a Standard Chartered Bank opposite the SHK Centre in Wan Chai, the court heard. The amount, Perry said, was paid in advance of his succession to the key government post to secure a "representative" and some "eyes and ears" for SHKP in the government.

His brother Raymond offered Hui HK$4.125 million, Perry said. He also cited diary entries made by Raymond Kwok in May 2005 that he said mentioned "Rafael Hui's package".

By June 30, when Hui took his oath to serve the public "conscientiously and loyally", he had already received three sets of payments totalling HK$17.625 million, Perry said. One of the payments, of HK$4.7 million, was paid to him five hours before he took the oath, the court heard.
Of the HK$17.625 million figure, HK$8.5 million went through layers of transfers before the funds reached Hui.

While an SHKP annual report in 2005/06 showed that Thomas Chan, the SHKP executive director who had served the family business for three decades, received millions of dollars in bonuses, part of the money was actually disguising the 2007 payments, the court heard.

Chan, whom Perry described as an SHKP "loyal", then routed the money through his own private company.

The money was then passed to Hui's "childhood friend", Francis Kwan, who played the role of "another intermediate, another buffer ... to ensure that the disguise is as elaborate as possible", said Perry.

Kwan "did not just hand over the money [to Hui] as you might do in an ordinary transaction".

Instead he used 10 different bank accounts and made the payment - finally - to Hui in different ways that included cash, cheques and cashier orders, Perry said. Some of the money was routed via Singapore, while on another occasion he carried with him HK$150,000 cash to a bank in North Point.

Kwan was "handsomely rewarded" with HK$2 million and HK$1 million over the two transactions - "not bad for simply passing on some money to an old friend", Perry said.

Other allegations against Hui concern his previous job as managing director of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority between 2000 and 2003.

He is alleged not to have disclosed to his employer his relationship with SHKP - illustrated by a negotiation for a consultancy agreement as well as the free use of two Happy Valley flats managed by the developer.

Hui was also offered two unsecured loans by an SHKP subsidiary, Perry said.

"There is something wrong if you have an obligation to the public and you conceal what you are doing and operate under a conflict of interests," he said.

The address of the apartments - at Leighton Hill - was on a letter Tsang sent to Hui when he stepped down from the Executive Council in 2009.
In it, Tsang praised Hui for his "sound and insightful advice" on political matters. "What the chief executive did not know was that during [Hui's] time as a member of the Executive Council, [Hui] received millions of dollars in secret payments," Perry said.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...l-hui-be-their-eyes-and-ears-prosecutor-tells

The amount of money that was paid in the bribe goes to show that no matter how much PAPzi ministers are paid there may be someone else willing to pay them higher or faster to obtain important and invaluable state information.

Money laundering and channeling hub.

Most of Western intel agencies know what Sinkies don't: in addition to getting Sinkie taxpayers to pay them multi-million $ salaries and remuneration, our ministars including Pinky, receive many more millions of $ from the likes of Li Ka Shing, ex-premier Li Peng, Russian oligarchs, etc..in exchange for valuable state information.

If Sinkies are dumb, they just have to study recent events: the heavy trading of stocks of Olam and the Sinkie transport companies.

A corruption of first degree reaching deep into the seat of Government. How much invaluable info were divulged to the bribe givers to benefit their businesses? Does it happen in SG?

Are there any parallels in the Little Red Dot?
When corrupt Hongkie civil servant needs to wash dirty money
He uses Singapore and some other places
Corrupt Sinkie civil servant will use Hong Kong to launder?

Rafael Hui conferred with Kwoks after key meetings, graft trial told
Brothers got details on West Kowloon and Ma Wan projects, prosecutor tells corruption trial

Former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan would meet the tycoon Kwok brothers soon after closed-door meetings with top officials to discuss two development projects, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

Prosecutor David Perry QC was seeking to demonstrate how the Sun Hung Kai Properties co-chairmen apparently obtained inside information about the West Kowloon cultural district and Ma Wan projects from the former No 2 official.

Perry was wrapping up his opening remarks in the corruption trial of Hui, Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, a case he said was "business in politics" and "degrading of public service".

Hui, 66, whom Perry has described as the property magnates' "eyes and ears", is alleged to have taken HK$34 million in cash and inducements from the Kwoks while serving different public roles. He faces eight charges related to bribery and misconduct in public office.

Thomas Kwok, 62, faces one charge of conspiracy to offer an advantage to Hui and two 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, 67, and former Hong Kong stock exchange official Francis Kwan Hung-sang, 63, each face two charges. All plead not guilty.

Perry said yesterday that a diary entry by Raymond Kwok on November 30, 2005, showed the brothers had lunch with Hui six days after Hui had a discussion with then chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen over their dispute with the government over the Ma Wan project.

The company sought a change to the ratio between ferry and road access to the island, he said, while SHKP and the government had a dispute over a delay in the development.

Hui had acted knowing that SHKP had a direct financial interest, Perry said. "In truth, he acted as a consultant to SHKP."

In the following two years, Perry noted, Hui remained involved in the West Kowloon project, even after stepping down as chief secretary in 2007.

In his diary entry for June 1, 2007, Hui mentioned West Kowloon and co-defendant Thomas Chan. And one day after he attended three events including a press conference on the project on September 12 that year, he met Thomas Chan. On September 22 he was invited to a dinner with Thomas Kwok.

In the two ensuing months, Perry said, HK$11.182 million was channelled by co-defendant Kwan, Hui's childhood friend, between Hong Kong and Singapore before reaching Hui, by then an executive councillor.

Raymond Kwok had told the prosecution that Hui offered no favours to SHKP over West Kowloon as the original tender process, in which the project was to have been offered to a developer, was scrapped.

But Perry said that did not matter. "He is valuable to SHKP irrespective of the merit of the decision," he said. "It's about business in politics."

Raymond Kwok, in the words of his secretary Murine Lo, had at first appeared "awed" and "scratched his head" when Hui, who was then employed as a consultant for the firm, terminated his position early before becoming the chief secretary in 2005 but asked for HK$4.125 million for the remainder of the term.

In the end, however, Kwok "didn't look surprised", Perry quoted Lo as saying.

The trial continues today.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...ions-shkp-linked-parties-joining-west-kowloon

Sinkieland gets honourable mention yet again
Oh my God where am I going to hide my face
Looking at the bright side now I know how to wash money
Sinkies can also use this case to see if there are any parallels

Alleged go-between Francis Kwan feared being convicted, prosecutor tells Hui trial
Handwritten note found at Francis Kwan's home showed he had sought legal advice, trial told

Rafael Hui Si-yan and the Kwok brothers were arrested 10 days after graft-busters recovered a note from the home of an alleged go-between that showed he had been pondering the severity of the penalty he would receive if convicted, the court heard yesterday.

Francis Kwan Hung-sang, a childhood friend of Hui, wrote in the note "convicted years of penalty?", prosecutor David Perry said.

The manuscript, recovered when he was arrested on March 19, 2012, also showed that he made a reference to "section 14" of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. He was arrested three months after he was first interviewed by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Kwan, a former Hong Kong stock exchange official, faces two joint counts of conspiracy with Hui, the Kwok brothers and Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, over more than HK$19 million worth of bribes allegedly paid to Hui.

The note also showed he had sought legal advice that said: "Do not assist the investigation."

And at the top of the list of five items he scribbled "source of funds, time and possibility of tracing", the court heard.

Perry said this referred to an elaborate arrangement of fund movements from Thomas Kwok that eventually ended up in Hui's account.

The court heard that funds were routed through a Singaporean company and converted from Hong Kong dollars to US dollars before being put into time-deposit accounts. The time deposits were then used by Kwan as security to borrow money eventually paid to Hui.

Two more documents seized from Kwan's home purported to show that the HK$19 million Kwan transferred to Hui were "loans". But Perry said in fact they were designed to mislead the investigators.

"Why is [Kwan] concerned about years of penalty if these are loans?" Perry asked.

Perry said the handwritten note implicated Kwan, 63, as the "intermediary" of Sun Hung Kai Properties.

He said another document that purported to show that Chan and Kwan had entered into an "investment portfolio management" agreement was a "sham" created to explain why Chan gave Kwan HK$12 million.

The court heard that the ICAC went to Kwan after searching Hui's home in November 2011 and finding a cheque Hui had received from Kwan.

This came after the ICAC began an in-depth investigation into Hui's financial affairs in September that year. Since then, more ill-gotten payments Hui received from the Kwok brothers had come to light, Perry said.

"The investigators discovered [Hui] had been paid these large sums by [Kwan] but they didn't know why," Perry said.

"Nor did they know how [Kwan] was connected. It was certain that [Kwan] did not appear to be connected to SHKP. This is the puzzle: why would [Kwan] make the payments?"

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...rancis-kwan-feared-being-convicted-prosecutor

Huat Ah! Sinkieland mentioned again in huge bribery case in Fragrant Harbour involving former Chief Secretary (something like Prime Minister lah).

Who is this Tommy Kow? Is he a new shitizen or PR? Is he a PAP RC "volunteer"?

Court hears of `false, bogus' deal

Jasmine Siu

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Sun Hung Kai Properties executive director Thomas Chan Kui- yuen was accused of creating false documents to explain corrupt payments made to former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan.

Chief prosecutor David Perry told the Court of First Instance that the Longally agreement, between Chan and co-defendant Francis Kwan Hung-sang, was signed in November 2007, and just days before Hui received HK$11.182 million as an Executive Council member.

Perry described the agreement named after Chan's private firm as "false, bogus and a sham."

He said yesterday the terms were identical to instructions Kwan gave to a Singapore friend, Tommy Kow, in August that year at a time when payments for Hui were being arranged.

"So ... in an attempt to explain the way of corrupt payments, you have created the Longally agreement."

Chan denied this.

When Independent Commission Against Corruption officers searched Chan's office, the agreement was found in a folder labeled "tax and salary."

Perry questioned Chan's involvement as middleman in 2005 payments of HK$8.5 million.

According to Chan, he was instructed by Thomas Kwok Ping- kwong on June 20, 2005 to call and pay Hui the remaining balance of HK$10.8 million by a cashier's order to be collected by Kwan.

However, he admitted that he did not follow up on the whereabouts of the payment after giving Kwan the order made payable to him four days later.

Hui, 66, with SHKP co-chairmen Thomas Kwok, 62, and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, 61, Chan, 68, and Kwan, 63, plead not guilty to all charges relating to misconduct in public office.

The jury trial continues before judge Andrew Macrae.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_...8&sid=43204723&con_type=1&d_str=20141022&fc=4

So GIC bought some Jippun properties for undisclosed sum is a step further in this direction? who is their eyes n ears in jippun?

You win some, you lose some. Compared to the prosperity that the PAP has brought us over the years, it is but a footnote.