DHAKA: Hong Kong property tycoon Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong on Tuesday was locked up for five years and fined HK$500,000 for his part in Hong Kong's biggest ever graft trial.

Before sending him to prison Mr Justice Andrew Macrae said there was "absolutely no doubt Mr Kwok is at heart a good man and a sincere one whose work and altruism has touched the lives of many people".

He told the defendant: "Your good works earned you a well deserved reputation as a genuinely motivated philanthropist." He was disqualified from becoming director of a company for five years.

Macrae described the sentencing of Kwok, Rafael Hui and two others, following the months-long corruption trial, as the most difficult task in his job.

"It is particularly difficult when one is dealing with otherwise decent men who are not young but who have committed serious offences," said Macrae before passing sentence.

"Sentencing is an art and not a science. If it were a science it would no doubt be an easier exercise to conduct."

"It requires judge to exercise a public duty in dealing effectively and consistently with serious crime, but also requires him to mitigate the harsh effect by acknowledging in an appropriate way personal circumstances of the individual defendants."

Hui, was earlier convicted of five out of eight charges, including misconduct in a public office, making him the highest-ranking official in Hong Kong's history to be convicted of taking bribes.

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, and ex-stock exchange official Francis Kwan Hung-sang, 64, were each found guilty of two counts, including bribery.

Kwok's younger brother, Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, was acquitted of all his four charges.

Source: South China Morning Post‎

BDST: 0930 HRS, DEC 23, 2014