Jailed former chief secretary Rafael Hui lodges appeal after bribery conviction
Ex-top official beats application deadline by five days in bid to overturn verdict he took bribes and committed misconduct in public office
Disgraced former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan lodged an appeal yesterday against his five convictions in the city’s highest-profile graft case, less than a month into his 7½-year term in Stanley Prison.
The 66-year-old challenged the jury’s decisions that he pocketed a total of HK$19.682 million in bribes and inducements in 2005 and 2007 and committed misconduct in public office.
Two other offenders, tycoon Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and his aide, Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, had filed appeals within two weeks of their sentencing on December 23.
Kwok, former co-chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties, is seeking to overturn the verdict that he paid HK$8.5 million of that sum shortly before Hui became the city’s No 2 official in 2005.
It is understood Hui’s legal team argued in its Court of Appeal filing that the trial judge, Mr Justice Andrew Macrae, erred when he told the jury it did not need to determine exactly what favours Hui had granted to SHKP.
The team also claimed the prosecution’s charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office was ill-founded.
