Rafael Hui 'did not influence' Ma Wan transport policy, court told
Hui played no role in transport recommendations, an official tells court
Former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan did not exert influence on a transport official who was handling a request by Sun Hung Kai Properties to change policies on the mode of transport servicing Ma Wan, a high-profile corruption trial heard yesterday.
Irene Ho Wai-yin, now acting assistant commissioner for transport, was testifying about SHKP's request in 2006 to review the ratio of ferries to buses connecting Ma Wan, where the firm was undertaking a residential-commercial project, to the rest of Hong Kong.
Hui is alleged to have given SHKP inside information related to the Ma Wan and West Kowloon Cultural District projects.
He is accused of receiving tens of millions of dollars in cash and other inducements from SHKP co-chairmen Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen and two others without declaring the benefits.
The Court of First Instance heard that in June 2006, Thomas Kwok wrote to Michael Suen Ming-yeung, then secretary for housing, planning and lands, concerning a policy that ferries must make up 75 per cent of public transport to Ma Wan, and buses 25 per cent.
In the letter, copied to Hui, Kwok wanted the rule relaxed.
Eventually, Ho, in her 2007 review report, recommended abolishing the sea-to-land transport ratio. She had read an SHKP-commissioned consultancy report that found minimal traffic impact brought by additional bus trips via the Tsing Ma Bridge.
