Rafael Hui’s friend made no-questions-asked money transfers for him, trial hears
Witness says he sent HK$3m to women on mainland on behalf of ex-chief secretary
A long-time friend of Hong Kong's former No 2 official Rafael Hui Si-yan helped him transfer millions of dollars to women on the mainland without questioning the motive because he believed Hui would never engage in illegal activities, a court heard yesterday.
Prosecution witness Raymond Chin Yuet-ming, Hui's friend of 20 years, told the Court of First Instance that he helped Hui, a former chief secretary, remit a total of HK$3 million to women in Shanghai and Shenzhen between 2009 and 2010.
Chin was testifying in the corruption trial of Hui, Sun Hung Kai Properties co-chairmen Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, and two others.
He said Hui asked him to make the telegraphic transfers. Hui wrote him cheques and he took the cash to remittance agents, he said. He had not met the women before the transfer.
"After [the transfer], in some meal gatherings, I saw some of those people," Chin said, adding that the gatherings took place in Hong Kong and that Hui was present.
Defence lawyer Charles Chan said Chin had told the investigators that he did not question Hui's requests because of their friendship and Hui's reputation.
"From your own observation, you would not believe Mr Hui would engage himself in illegal activities," asked Chan, representing alleged go-between Francis Kwan Hung-sang, a former Hong Kong stock exchange official.
