Hong
Kong police say they have recovered some HK$ 3.6 million out of the
HK$15 million that went missing after a money transport van with a
faulty rear door spilled large bundles of cash over a busy road on
Christmas Eve.
Some motorists and passers-by treated themselves to an early
Christmas around lunchtime yesterday, dashing onto Gloucester Road to
pick up large stacks of banknotes before armed policemen were able to
stave them off and restore order.
Police said on Thursday morning that 13 people had returned HK$3.6
million, after they asked the public to help return as much as HK$15
million which went missing in the frantic scramble for the cash, most of
it in HK$500 notes - equivalent of about US$65. No arrests had been
made. Following the incident, British security service company G4S – responsible for transporting the cash – told the South China Morning Post it expected to be liable for the loss of millions. A spokeswoman said an internal probe was underway, but initial findings blamed a van door malfunction.
People were seen darting onto Gloucester Road in an attempt to scoop
up handfuls of HK$500 notes, while witnesses spoke of at least one
person collecting an armful of still-wrapped bundles of notes. Police superintendent Wan Siu-hong on Wednesday asked those who had
picked up the money to hand it over to any police officer or police
station as soon as possible.
"If he or she keeps the money for his own use, he may commit an
offence of theft which is a very serious crime under ordinance," he
said.
The security company van was transporting a total HK$525 million in
cash, police said. Each cash box it carried contained HK$17.5 million in
HK$500 notes.
Of
the HK$35 million that fell from the van, some HK$20 million had been
retrieved by yesterday afternoon, according to the police.
Despite the excesses of cash spilled, the van operated by three
guards continued driving to G4S’s headquarters in Cheung Sha Wan,
Kowloon, 14 kilometers way, until the incident was reported. A picture taken by an SCMP photographer at the scene showed a single
bundle of HK$500 notes wrapped in plastic, with a sticker on the side
bearing the figure HK$500,000 from the Bank of China (Hong Kong).
One witness, an office worker at a nearby building who requested
anonymity, told the SCMP he saw a "regular looking Hong Kong lady" pick
up at least 10 cash bricks before quickly walking off, although he could
not verify the denominations of notes she was carrying.
"I
saw a lady with 10 of them, easily. She looked like a very regular Hong
Kong lady. She had an armful of bricks of cash - it was a much as she
could carry. She just disappeared into the depths of Wan Chai," the
witness said.
The eyewitness said he had just left his office building when he noticed traffic grind to a halt. "It all started slowing down and I noticed a couple of blue boxes on
the road. I thought a lorry had lost some of its load. I saw a few
people in the street picking up what I thought were iPhone boxes. As I
got closer I saw they were wrapped bundles of bills.
"As well as the packed money there were HK$500 bills lying on the road itself. "At first people did nothing, then one person went into the road,"
the witness said, before telling how others quickly followed suit.
"You couldn’t make it up. There were 20 or 30 people picking up cash
from the road on Christmas Eve. They looked like schoolkids who knew
they were being naughty, but thought, ’this is a once in a lifetime
thing’. Everyone had the same look on their face."
Pictures
posted on social media showed a taxi driver abandoning his car in the
middle of the busy dual carriageway and scrambling around on the tarmac
in an effort to collect some of the cash. A police spokesman said: "At 1.51pm police received calls from
members of the public that lots of money was on the road and some people
were picking it up. It was suspected the money had fallen from a cash
escort vehicle."
Armed police quickly arrived on the scene and cordoned off two lanes
of Gloucester Road. The eyewitness said officers became angry as those
collecting notes initially ignored their call to get out of the road,
before the site was cordoned off.
Three boxes, which appeared to be containers used by security firms
to transport large amounts of money, could be seen stacked up in the
middle of the road being guarded by dozens of police, including armed
officers. Representatives of the security firm G4S were also at the
scene.
Sheeta
Leung Hui-kwan, a spokeswoman for G4S Hong Kong, said: “We are still
having an internal investigation and we found that something went wrong
with the door on the left side. “Our guards [conducted] the job according to the standard procedure but during the incident there were three guards in the van.
“Our guards reported the incident when they reached Cheung Sha Wan,
our head office. Due to the code of conduct and the comfort problem, we
will not put any guards inside where we store the money.
“The normal procedure is, if the bank wants to release the money
somewhere, we will collect the cash and then put it in our vault, and we
have to count the cash for security, and then we will deliver it
according to the bank’s order.”
G4S said the banks normally only recorded the serial numbers if they
were new notes. The security firm was only responsible for counting the
cash and making sure the amount was correct, she added. Regarding potential responsibility for the losses, Leung said “it is for sure” G4S was liable to cover the lost funds.
Officers were later seen in a police van counting out notes recovered from the scene.
Banknotes can be seen scattered across Gloucester Road in this picture
The
mistress of Rafael Hui Si-yan received so much cash from her former
lover that she was embarrassed to take more from him, according to a
magazine report in which she confirmed the secret affair with the
disgraced former chief secretary.
Former Dragonair flight attendant Eline Shen told East Week that
she had been shocked to learn Hui had been convicted of graft and
misconduct, and feared gifts he had given her - including a Shanghai
flat and an Audi car - would be confiscated following Friday's court
ruling.
The 34-year-old from Shanghai said she met Hui at a dinner several
years ago and they secretly dated for nearly three years, even though
she knew that he had a wife.
She would fly from Shanghai to Hong Kong each time Hui called her for company, she said. "All my expenses in Hong Kong were paid by Hui … we would have sex
every time," said Shen, adding their last date was in September 2011,
after which the 66-year-old stopped calling her. Hui confessed in court that he had spent at least HK$7 million on a
young Shanghai woman with whom he started an "intimate" relationship in
2008.
Apart from cash handouts, he told the court, he bought properties and
made investments for her, as well as buying her bags, watches and other
presents.
Shen said she did not know Hui was a senior official until the graft-buster started the probe. Shen told the Independent Commission Against Corruption that she had
used "about five million", without specifying the currency, to buy a
flat and an Audi in Shanghai, with the rest used for daily expenses,
according to East Week. The mistress reportedly had not asked Hui
for more money after his last cash gift in 2009 as he "had already
given me so much money that I found it embarrassing to take any more".
Hui's wife, Teresa Lo Mei-mei, did not comment when asked if she
would forgive Hui for keeping a mistress when she visited him at the Lai
Chi Kok Reception Centre on Saturday.
Meanwhile, neither Hui nor Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong - the former Sun
Hung Kai Properties co-chairman found guilty of one count of conspiracy
to commit misconduct in public office - had any visitors recognisable to
the media during visiting hours yesterday.
At about 12.15pm, just after visiting hours had finished at noon, an
employee of Kwok's, thought to be his bodyguard, appeared at the
facility. He was inside for about 10 minutes and declined to answer any
questions nor confirm if he had met Kwok.
Asked why he was allowed to enter the facility after registration for
social visits ended, staff said the visit was not a social one but
refused to elaborate.
The most high-profile corruption trial in HKSAR's history, which opened in June 2014, has found Rafael Hui Si-yan (former Chief Secretary of Hong Kong), Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong (co-chairman at Sun Hung Kai Properties), Thomas Chan Kui-yuen (aide and executive director at Sun Hung Kai Properties) and Francis Kwan Hung-sang (ex-stock exchange official) guilty.
Youngest brother Raymond Kwok Ping-luen (pictured centre), was acquitted of all his four charges. He said: "I have conflicting emotions," and thanked his wife, mother, children and God.
Oldest brother Walter Kwok Ping-sheung said he was "very glad" to see Raymond cleared but was "deeply sorrowful" that Thomas was convicted. "The issue raised lots of arguments and rumours. What is right and what is wrong, I think God will have his say on the matter".
Why? What has God got to with it? There is no doubt that religious and corrupt individuals are clearly deluded in believing that they are somehow special and that there is a supernatural being that looks after them.
Based on this, Thomas Kwok must be thinking his God loves him the most because first, he has a face that looks like a clown, and second he is the one convicted while his brothers have escaped prison.
Rafael Hui looks like a hamster and Thomas Kwok looks like a clown. God dealt them this hand and God has all the answers, apparently.
The
long trial ends in shame for former chief secretary Rafael Hui (right)
as he is taken away in a prison van following the verdict. Photo: AP
Hong
Kong's former No 2 official Rafael Hui Si-yan and property tycoon
Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong spent their first night behind bars after they
were convicted of corruption yesterday in a marathon trial that gave a
rare glimpse into collusion between the political elite and big
business.
Kwok's younger brother, Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, was acquitted of all
his four charges. He now takes sole charge of Sun Hung Kai Properties,
the city's biggest property developer by market value, as its chairman.
Red-eyed and weary, the 61-year-old walked free from the High Court alone as two other co-accused were also found guilty.
"I have conflicting emotions," he told the media circus waiting
outside court. Thanking his wife, mother, children and God, he added:
"On the one hand, I'm happy … I've been proven innocent after these two
years of struggles. On the other, I'm very unhappy because Thomas Kwok
and Thomas Chan … are convicted. We will continue to support [them and
their] families."
Thomas Kwok, 63, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit
misconduct in public office. The brothers' top aide Thomas Chan
Kui-yuen, 68, was found guilty of two counts - a fate shared by ex-stock
exchange official Francis Kwan Hung-sang, 64.
Last night, SHKP said Thomas Kwok and Chan would appeal against their
convictions. Both resigned from the property giant after the verdicts.
The man at the centre of the storm, Hui, was convicted of five out of
eight charges, making him the highest-ranking official in Hong Kong's
history to be convicted of taking bribes.
The case marked the dramatic fall of a man who was once the most
influential and decorated star in local politics. Failing to escape the
long arm of the law, a fragile Hui, 66, nodded blankly in the dock
yesterday as the jury delivered its verdicts at 2.45pm.
Chan, who sat behind Hui, turned red in the face, while Raymond Kwok
laid a hand on the shoulder of his elder brother. As he prepared to
leave the dock, Raymond paused to speak to the court guards, as if to
confirm he really could go.
All four criminals were taken away by Correctional Services
Department officers. They may be sentenced as soon as Monday when Mr
Justice Andrew Macrae hears mitigation pleas. By last night, Hui and
Kwan had yet to decide if they would appeal. Macrae ordered a doubling of fees for the nine jurors to HK$820 a
day, meaning each could claim about HK$100,000 for their work on the
case. He exempted all nine from jury service for five years, thanking
them for showing "why retention of the jury system is so important in
the city". The case, lasting 131 days, was a close fight to the end. The jurors
alone took five days and four nights to make up their minds, and had to
seek directions from the judge once. And although four of the five were
convicted, only 10 out of the 19 verdicts were in favour of the
prosecution.
"[Thomas Kwok] considers the verdict very strange," his lawyer
Lawrence Lok SC said outside the court. "Why were some defence arguments
accepted but not others, when they were part of the same thing?"
Of Hui's five convictions, three counts were about misconduct in
public office. He concealed from his public-sector employers financial
benefits totalling HK$16.582 million.
Thomas Kwok was convicted of paying Hui HK$8.5 million, via middlemen
Chan and Kwan, days before the latter became chief secretary in 2005.
All four were found guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public
office in a 7-2 jury decision. But the Kwoks were cleared of involvement
in HK$11.182 million in bribes for which the other defendants were
found guilty.
The billionaire brothers and Hui were cleared of paying HK$5 million and HK$4.125 million in bribes in 2005.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption said it would continue
to exercise the law "regardless of the background, status and position
of the persons involved". SHKP and two listed subsidiaries, Smartone and
Sunevision, were suspended from trading at 2.45pm.
Additional reporting by Enoch Yiu, Julie Chu and Thomas Chan
Karren Brady looking like a dummy in a room full of dummies
The appearance of Karren Brady is hilarious. Yes, she is a successful businesswoman and a baroness, but she also conjures up the stereotypical image of the British woman. Bad hairstyle, poor makeup and a frumpy unhealthy look.
In the two years since the government finished the review of its air quality objectives, nothing has been done about it.
The government doesn't seem to realise the health threats of Hong Kong's poor air quality.
While
doctors cannot say on a death certificate that a person was "killed by
air pollutants", it is well known among health professionals that air
pollution is highly associated with fatal diseases.
Studies have
shown that people in polluted areas develop respiratory symptoms more
readily and people who are exposed to air pollutants for a long time die
sooner than those who are not.
So how bad is the air in Hong
Kong? It is not unusual for members of the public to think that air
quality is of minimal significance and to consider that our present
levels are normal and acceptable.
This is not true.
The
air quality objectives have not been updated since 1987, and yet it is
this standard that the government uses to assess the extent of air
pollution, monitor projects and approve new ones.
The outdated standards are extremely lax compared with the World Health Organisation's air quality guidelines.
Do
we not deserve better air to breathe? It is time for the government to
face the challenge. No more vague emission control proposals, no more
uncertain time frames, no more excuses for negligence.
We can all
make a difference by expressing our concerns and urging the government
to take action promptly. We all deserve a breath of fresh air.
Seraph Wu Shi-kei (Miss), 17, pupil of St Paul's Convent School in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong (Top 12 recognition at the 14th Awarding Programme for Future Scientists, beating more than 1,000 shortlisted entries from across China, November 2014)
Seraph is a boy's name and means "burning ones"
Miss Seraph Wu (front) Pic Edward Wong (Ref: SCMP article)
The predominance of Korean surnames Kim and Lee reveals the consequences of letting people pick and choose their own family names. Nearly half of South Koreans today is either a Kim, Lee or Park. In China, there are about 100 surnames in common usage, whereas Japan has as many as 280,000 distinct family names. The Economist explains the history behind why is there so little diversity in Korean surnames.
Female hockey players Lee, Kim, Lee, Fanny (!) and Kim. Pic Reuters
This blog loves names and discovering the reasons behind common and not-so-common names. For first names, when people are allowed to pick and choose their creativity (or lack thereof) they can reveal a lot about their background, culture, education, social values and way of thinking.
A SOUTH KOREAN saying claims that a stone thrown from the top of
Mount Namsan, in the centre of the capital Seoul, is bound to hit a
person with the surname Kim or Lee. One in every five South Koreans is a
Kim—in a population of just over 50m. And from the current president,
Park Geun-hye, to rapper PSY (born Park Jae-sang), almost one in ten is a
Park. Taken together, these three surnames account for almost half of
those in use in South Korea today. Neighbouring China has around 100
surnames in common usage; Japan may have as many as 280,000 distinct
family names. Why is there so little diversity in Korean surnames?
Korea’s
long feudal tradition offers part of the answer. As in many other parts
of the world, surnames were a rarity until the late Joseon dynasty
(1392-1910). They remained the privilege of royals and a few aristocrats
(yangban) only. Slaves and outcasts such as butchers, shamans and
prostitutes, but also artisans, traders and monks, did not have the
luxury of a family name. As the local gentry grew in importance,
however, Wang Geon, the founding king of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392),
tried to mollify it by granting surnames as a way to distinguish
faithful subjects and government officials. The gwageo, a civil-service
examination that became an avenue for social advancement and royal
preferment, required all those who sat it to register a surname. Thus
elite households adopted one. It became increasingly common for
successful merchants too to take on a last name. They could purchase an
elite genealogy by physically buying a genealogical book (jokbo)—perhaps
that of a bankrupt yangban—and using his surname. By the late 18th
century, forgery of such records was rampant. Many families fiddled with
theirs: when, for example, a bloodline came to an end, a non-relative
could be written into a genealogical book in return for payment. The
stranger, in turn, acquired a noble surname.
As family names such
as Lee and Kim were among those used by royalty in ancient Korea, they
were preferred by provincial elites and, later, commoners when plumping
for a last name. This small pool of names originated from China, adopted
by the Korean court and its nobility in the 7th century in emulation of
noble-sounding Chinese surnames. (Many Korean surnames are formed from a
single Chinese character.) So, to distinguish one’s lineage from those
of others with the same surname, the place of origin of a given clan
(bongwan) was often tagged onto the name. Kims have around 300 distinct
regional origins, such as the Gyeongju Kim and Gimhae Kim clans (though
the origin often goes unidentified except on official documents). The
limited pot of names meant that no one was quite sure who was a blood
relation; so, in the late Joseon period, the king enforced a ban on
marriages between people with identical bongwan (a restriction that was
only lifted in 1997). In 1894 the abolition of Korea’s class-based
system allowed commoners to adopt a surname too: those on lower social
rungs often adopted the name of their master or landlord, or simply took
one in common usage. In 1909 a new census-registration law was passed,
requiring all Koreans to register a surname.
Today clan origins,
once deemed an important marker of a person’s heritage and status, no
longer bear the same relevance to Koreans. Yet the number of new Park,
Kim and Lee clans is in fact growing: more foreign nationals, including
Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipinos, are becoming naturalised Korean
citizens, and their most popular picks for a local surname are Kim, Lee,
Park and Choi, according to government figures; registering, for
example, the Mongol Kim clan, or the Taeguk (of Thailand) Park clan. The
popularity of these three names looks set to continue.
Kosa Law Wing-yi, 21, a member group of students from Baptist University's Academy of Visual Arts who put 200 broken umbrellas to good use by hanging a giant colourful canopy of them across a footbridge leading to the government headquarters in Admiralty, Occupy Central 2014, Hong Kong
Popsy Gu, 22, a private English tutor and year four finance student at the University of Hong Kong, volunteering to teach English classes for free, Occupy Central 2014, Hong Kong
Kerby Kuek, Feng Shui practitioner, columnist, The Standard
the meaning of Kerby is "settlement by a church" ... that's very bad feng shui because it means the name is right next to a graveyard. Nice one Kerby!!
Nicola Lu Min (Mr), 36 years old, Hong Kong fencing team (competing at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea)
NOTE: Lu has an Italian father and Hong Kong mother which likely explains his name. Had this important piece of information been missed, then it is easy to see why we can fall into our "lazy way of thinking" and believe that this novel name was derived from a lack of good English. We now have two good examples of where apparently "novel" names are derived (and both are derived by the individuals' parents). The other example is Ines Kwai-pun (see his comments here).
Nicola Lu Min trains with teammate Leung Ka-ming at Goyang Gymnasium. Pic by Nora Tam
Vernée Ho, co-founder of Playto, an 18 month old video game development company with a product that can help children improve their concentration skills, Hong Kong
The Equal Opportunities Commission has disciplined an employee for damaging the credibility of the organization. Josiah Chok Kin-ming has clearly been indoctrinated by his faith and can no longer be trusted to think and act critically. There are religious-based names and then there are religious-based names (for instance this Josiah and this Moses appear to be really religious).
Josiah Chok (inset) was stripped of his role in a review of the laws while Equal
Opportunities Commission head Dr York Chow said the public consultation
on reform of the laws will not be affected. Photos: David Wong, EOC
Official was stripped of role in anti-discrimination review after helping church group oppose reform of laws PUBLISHED : Friday, 29 August, 2014, 2:58pm
Jennifer Ngo jennifer.ngo@scmp.com
A top official at the equality watchdog who helped members of his church to oppose reform of anti-discrimination laws has damaged the credibility of the body, its chairman said.
Josiah Chok Kin-ming was stripped of his role in a review of the laws after it was reported that he organised members of his church to make submissions to the consultation to counter those by gay-rights supporters.
The consultation is being conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).
“The credibility of the EOC will more or less be affected,” said its chairperson Dr York Chow Yat-ngok on Friday.
Chok has not been fired and an internal EOC investigation is ongoing.
“[Chok’s] responsibility was to explain and answer questions at consultation sessions and not to analyse collected suggestions. Other colleagues have taken over his work,” said Chow.
The public consultation will not be affected, he said. EOC officials should refrain from actions which are against the commission’s principles and might adversely affect public perception of the watchdog, Chow added.
Earlier this week Apple Daily revealed that Chok had spoken at a church forum and handed out sample letters of opposition to reform.
The reports left gay rights groups outraged, and one called on Chok to quit.
The EOC last month launched a three-month consultation on proposals to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of marital and residency status.
It did not include legislation against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation – subject to a separate study in which Chok is not involved – though gay rights groups had made submissions in support of some of the proposals.
Chok reportedly told churchgoers that the draft laws discriminated against church groups. He later told reporters his comments were his own opinion and did not conflict with his role at the EOC.
Commission convenor Dr John Tse Wing-ling said Chok’s behaviour was “inappropriate” and that there was an obvious conflict of interest.
“A top official’s job is to collect public opinion, not to create and to organise opinions,” Tse said.
Lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan said she would raise the matter at the Legislative Council’s constitutional affairs committee.
Q: How many lanes does a rectangular running track have?
A: Who cares! It's crap ... and hilarious.
Not for turning: A runner struggles to turn the corner of
the running track. “It is difficult to turn and easy to fall,” a local
resident said. Pic SCMP Pictures
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 29 July, 2014, 2:59pm Agence France-Presse in Beijing Chinese officials painted a rectangular running track at a stadium as they rushed preparations for a visit by their superiors, state media reported on Tuesday. Pictures posted online showed the running surface had the normal oval shape, but the white lines marking out each runner’s lane were angled at 90 degrees. Internet users leaped on the revelation. Watch: Hurried Chinese officials rush out rectangular running track for superiors' visit “Leaders, this is the newly developed right-angled running track,” wrote one poster on Weibo, imitating the tone of a lower-ranking Chinese official reporting to his superior. “We have become the first country in the world to have such tracks! I believe [Chinese athletes] will outperform other countries’ [athletes] after scientific training on such a running track!” China National Radio described the forestry administration stadium in Tonghe county, in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, as having “rectangular tracks” around the football pitch. Curves in all the wrong places: Officials painted the rectangular running track as they rushed preparations for a visit by superiors. Photo: SCMP Pictures “It is difficult to turn and easy to fall,” local resident Gong Xiaona told provincial television programme Newsnight. It quoted a member of staff at the stadium as saying the previous track had become worn down by long use. “The current tracks were laid in a rush to deal with the visit by some provincial leaders,” he said. “We ourselves feel it’s ugly. But who can change it if our bosses don’t care?” It is not unknown for local officials in China to come up with eccentric ideas to curry favour with their bosses or cope with inspections. A publicly-funded orphanage in Jieyang in the southern province of Guangdong had its facilities transformed into government offices and dormitories, according to previous state media reports. When provincial authorities mounted an inspection last year, social welfare officials attempted to borrow orphans from a nearby temple.
The unfolding saga of Penfold (aka Rafael Hui Si-yan), in particular his business and personal life, is beginning to be revealed in court ...
The 66-year-old former Chief Secretary, like many high-status Hong Kong males, has admitted to being a rat having a mistress (unsurprisingly, a "young woman from Shanghai"). This in itself is not particularly shocking. Rather it is the amount of money Rafael Hui, a retired civil servant, has at his disposal that is of public interest.
Rafael Hui said that he spent up to HK$8 million on an “intimate” young female friend from Shanghai. Pic Dickson Lee
Former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan told a court today that he had given up to HK$8 million to a young woman from Shanghai with whom he had an "intimate" relationship.
Giving testimony at the city's biggest graft trial, Hui admitted showering the woman with several million dollars, and gifts such as handbags and watches.
“In the year 2008, and the one or two years that followed, I gave some money to a female friend in Shanghai,” said Hui, who was a non-official member of the Executive Council at the time.
“I had not known her for a long time,” he said. “When I first met her, it was in a social gathering in Hong Kong.”
Hui’s counsel, Edwin Choy Wai-bond, asked: “Is this Shanghainese female acquaintance a young woman or a married woman?”
Hui answered: “Maybe I would say, a young woman.”
Choy then asked: “Is it right to say your relationship with her was at times intimate?”
Hui agreed. He said he sometimes met the woman in Hong Kong and sometimes in Beijing. But they did not meet too frequently, he added.
Hui recalled giving her “several million” Hong Kong dollars.
“I do not recall the exact amount. But I think at least seven or eight million,” he said.
Some of the money was for her to buy property while some of it was used to make investments, the court heard.
“I did give her some gifts,” Hui added.
“Like bags and watches and that type of thing?” his lawyer asked. Hui answered yes.
“You were generous in giving her those gifts as well?” his lawyer went on.
“For the value of those gifts – of course it was not low. But I would not say they were luxurious items either,” Hui said.
Hui, 66, faces eight charges related to bribery and misconduct in public office.
He allegedly received HK$27 million in cash from the property magnate Kwok brothers, also standing trial, in return for being their "eyes and ears" in government.
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, 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. The trial continues before Mr Justice Andrew Macrae.
Perhaps Thomas Jefferson said it best with: “Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error“. Much error exists in the world and this blog, from the perspective of one Hong Kong SAR resident, is a small attempt to minimize errors.
(this site was formerly HKSAR Blog)
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