Corruption
Hong
Kong Graft Scandal 'Sends Message' About Rule of Law
2014-12-24
Rafael Hui arrives at
the High Court of Hong Kong, May 8, 2014.
AFP
The sentencing of
former Hong Kong chief secretary Rafael Hui to seven and a half years'
imprisonment for corruption sent a strong message that rule of law in the
former British colony is still intact, analysts said.
Hui, 66, was sentenced by a Hong Kong court alongside property tycoon Thomas Kwok, 65, who received a five-year jail term.
The trial has shocked Hong Kong, which scores highly on international measures of clean and transparent government, sparking renewed fears of behind-the-scenes links between government and corporate interests.
Kwok, who once headed Hong Kong’s biggest property company, Sun Hung Kai, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office after graft investigators unearthed payments he made to Hui using a complicated system of middlemen.
Macrae said he had taken a year off the maximum for Kwok, taking into account his otherwise good character.
Hong Kong, which has had an independent and effective graft-busting agency for more than three decades, was in 15th place on a global index by corruption watchdog Transparency International last year.
Judge Andrew Macrae told the court that the sentences were designed to send a strong message.
"To know that the former number two in government had received bribes must be a deep disappointment to many people in Hong Kong," Macrae said.
"It is vitally important in these times that the Hong Kong government and business community remain—and are seen to remain—corruption-free, particularly when the mainland (China) is taking obvious and positive steps to eradicate the cancer of corruption in their own jurisdiction."
Hui, 66, was sentenced by a Hong Kong court alongside property tycoon Thomas Kwok, 65, who received a five-year jail term.
The trial has shocked Hong Kong, which scores highly on international measures of clean and transparent government, sparking renewed fears of behind-the-scenes links between government and corporate interests.
Kwok, who once headed Hong Kong’s biggest property company, Sun Hung Kai, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office after graft investigators unearthed payments he made to Hui using a complicated system of middlemen.
Macrae said he had taken a year off the maximum for Kwok, taking into account his otherwise good character.
Hong Kong, which has had an independent and effective graft-busting agency for more than three decades, was in 15th place on a global index by corruption watchdog Transparency International last year.
Judge Andrew Macrae told the court that the sentences were designed to send a strong message.
"To know that the former number two in government had received bribes must be a deep disappointment to many people in Hong Kong," Macrae said.
"It is vitally important in these times that the Hong Kong government and business community remain—and are seen to remain—corruption-free, particularly when the mainland (China) is taking obvious and positive steps to eradicate the cancer of corruption in their own jurisdiction."
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