Hong Kong tycoon Thomas Kwok back in jail after final appeal rejected
Property magnate to serve the rest of five-year term for bribing city’s No 2 official, but son insists his father ‘has not a single shred of intent to corrupt’
One of Hong Kong’s top property tycoons was sent back to jail on Wednesday after losing his final appeal against his conviction for bribing a former No 2 government official.
The ruling by the Court of Final Appeal against tycoon Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-on closed the last chapter of one of highest-profile corruption cases in the city’s history. But it left open the possibility that public officials accused of misconduct might have to answer for what the defence had described as “thought crime” without actually committing a relevant act.
Chief justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li said, “It will now be necessary for [Kwok] to return to prison for him to serve out the remaining sentence.”
The appeals of Kwok and Hui, and two other co-defendants were on Wednesday dismissed unanimously by a panel of five justices, who iterated that the deal between the tycoon and the official was clearly a corrupt bargain that put the latter in a “hopelessly compromised” position.
The appeal, heard in May, centred on a payment of HK$8.5 million to Hui by Kwok via two middlemen just before Hui took office in 2005. After assuming office, Hui was in charge of projects, including the Ma Wan Park and West Kowloon Cultural District, where Kwok’s firm had a significant interest.
All the defendants were convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office over that transaction.
