Jaw-Dropping Real Estate

A rendering of what Victoria Harbour (the development) will look like

The other day I met up with an acquaintance I haven't seen in a while. She told me she was working on a property development called Victoria Harbour. It's being developed by Sun Hung Kai in North Point and apparently has unobstructed views of the water, hence the name.

What's the price per square foot? A whopping HK$40,000 (US$5,113) per square foot.

My jaw fell to the floor when she told me.

There are studio flats all the way to five-bedroom ones. I can't even imagine how much those would cost.

Construction of the buildings is already underway

Back in November, Sun Hung Kai Properties only released 10 units for sale, and prospective buyers had to hand over a HK$7 million cheque just to be able to view the units. If they decided not to buy, then the money would be refunded.

Victor Lui Ting, deputy managing director at SHKP said at the time that demanding the money up front was an "appropriate practice", as flats at Victoria Harbour are considered rare products.

The fact that developers can legally do this is outrageous -- the price per square foot is already a deterrent for most buyers anyway!

Included in the development will be a hotel and shopping mall of course that will be anchored by the largest Yata department store in the city. The hotel will apparently be young and hip with an all-day dining restaurant and a bar. Wonder what rents will be like for retail spaces there.

And apparently the owners (the Kwok family, now run by Raymond Kwok Ping-luen as his brother Thomas is in jail for bribery) aren't in a hurry to sell because they'd like to have some of those flats for themselves.

My jaw is still on the floor from hearing the price her square foot...

Two Cities, Two Trials

Ho Chio-meng will be facing 1,970 charges against him next month

Former Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen will be facing three charges against him in a trial by jury that starts in January.

But that's nothing compared to Macau's former top prosecutor who will face almost 2,000 criminal charges when he appears in court next month.

Ho Chio-meng was prosecutor general, equivalent to Hong Kong's director of public prosecutions, from 1999 to 2014.

Former CE Donald Tsang will be going on trial in January

He was even tipped to become Macau's chief executive, but that possibility has been dashed, as Ho is accused of 1,970 charges, including initiating or founding a criminal syndicate, fraud, money laundering, unlawful economic advantage, abuse of power, and forging documents. He also faces a charge of "damaging goods under his domain".

An investigation into alleged corruption and kickbacks involving at least HK$44 million has led to the arrest of more than 70 suspects to date.

Ho and others will face trial on December 5.

Since his arrest in February when he tried to board a ferry to Hong Kong, Ho has been locked up in the same prison annexe as disgraced former public works secretary Ao Man-long, who is serving a 27-year term and is the highest ranking public official ever convicted of corruption in Macau. If convicted, Ho will be the second.

Rafael Hui is serving a 7 1/2 year sentence for taking bribes

There was a three-year investigation into Tsang's case, and he is the highest ranking government official in Hong Kong to face a corruption trial. His deputy Rafael Hui Si-yan was jailed for seven years in 2014 for taking bribes worth HK$34 million from Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen. Thomas Kwok is serving a five-year sentence.

No doubt residents in both Hong Kong and Macau will be watching both trials closely...

The Unmotivated HK Taxman

Hong Kong has a number of individuals and entities listed in these documents

Since the Panama Papers have revealed a number of individuals and entities from Hong Kong -- 26,000 of them or 7 percent of the total 366,000 overseas shell companies, the Hong Kong government doesn't seem to be outraged.

Development minister Paul Chan is one of them...

Some of them are even in Leung Chun-ying's own administration -- development minister Paul Chan Mo-po, and Executive Council member Bernard Chan. Others include failed chief executive contender Henry Tang Yin-yen, several lawmakers like Michael Tien Puk-sun and Paul Tse Wai-chun, the Kwok brothers, Raymond, Thomas and Walter, who run Sun Hung Kai Properties, and action star Jackie Chan.

Only accountancy lawmaker Kenneth Leung is sounding the alarm, saying the revelations are shocking and has urged the tax authorities to follow up.

But probably even more outrageous is the laid-back attitude of the Inland Revenue Department. The commissioner Wong Kuen-fai said the department would follow up, but said that not all off-shore firms are involved in tax evasion.

Would it not hurt to just check?

... so is Executive Council member Bernard Chan...

In the past five years, reports of evasion and avoidance have increased 25 percent to 1,900 cases, but the number of probes by the Inland Revenue Department fell from 1,920 to 1,800.

There are also fewer investigators working on cases, from 257 in 2001-2002 to 240 in 2014-2015, but strangely the budget for the department has jumped in the same period from HK$168.6 million to HK$213 million.

With the revelations of Hong Kong having so many off-shore companies set up by Mossack Fonseca, one would think the authorities would like to clean house and also try to get more taxes the city is entitled to.

Will Inland Revenue investigate possible cases of tax evasion?

But no, the Inland Revenue Department doesn't seem to care much, if at all... why investigate their bosses and powerful tycoons?

If one wants to find a sign of Hong Kong declining, that's one of them. Why even bother having rule of law at all if people with the means aren't enforcing them?

More Official Drama

Rafael Hui has gone to prison for seven years for bribery

Ah the mighty have fallen and continue to fall.

Today former Hong Kong chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan was jailed for seven and a half years and pay back HK$11.182 million (the amount of bribes he was guilty of taking), while former co-chairman of SHKP Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong was sentenced to five years and a HK$500,000 fine for corruption and bribery.

These sentences seem awfully light for shaking the public's faith in the Hong Kong government, along with a HK$500,000 fine? That's chump change for Kwok. Was that the maximum sentence Justice Andrew Macrae could give both convicted defendants?

Interesting that Hui even asked his former boss ex-chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to write a referral letter pleading for Hui to get a lighter sentence considering all the good things he'd done for the city.

Hu Jintao's right-hand man, Ling Jihua now being probed

Surely everything Hui did as a civil servant prior to working for the Kwok brothers was completely wiped out by this scandal?

In any event, attention has now turned across the border with the announcement by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that Hu Jintao's former aide Ling Jihua will be investigated for "suspected serious disciplinary violations", which usually refers to corruption.

He will be the next tiger Chinese President Xi Jinping bags, after Zhou Yongkang and Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Ling was on his way climbing up the ladder of power when his son screwed it up for him on the night of March 19, 2012.

Ling Gu was in a fatal car accident when his Ferrari crashed into a wall on Beijing's North Fourth Ring Road before crushing a barrier on the other side of the road. Ling Gu was not fully dressed, nor were his two female companions, a lurid detail that has stuck with this story.

The wreckage of Ling Gu's Ferrari after a horrific crash

Ling requested the investigation into the accident not be handled by local police, but by the Central Guard Bureau, which oversees security of top leaders. This was his way of attempting to cover up the situation.

Pictures of the accident were put online by witnesses, but were soon deleted.

Then Ling got then chairman of state-run China National Petroleum Corporation Jiang Jiemin to pay tens of millions of yuan in compensation to the two women's families to keep quiet.

But the two large money transfers resulted in an investigation into the company as well as the link to Ling.

He was supposed to have been fast-tracked to become a member of the Politburo, but instead was transferred to a horizontal position as minister of the United Work Front, a mostly symbolic job.

However his time in purgatory was not enough -- even his open letters publicly praising Xi last week did not redeem him from being investigated.

Now it will be interesting to see what other things they uncover about Ling, particularly how his son was able to afford a Ferrari and maybe what did happen that night two years ago.

There are reports that Ling was a workaholic, but perhaps that was just a ruse to keep others from noticing what he managed to siphon off financially along the way.

How much did Hu know? And will he be a tiger Xi wants on his mantlepiece as well?

The drama unfolding here in real time is much more fascinating than anything TVB can cook up...

Hui's Fall from Grace

Rafael Hui was found guilty of bribery thanks to his materialistic longings

It seems former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan was addicted to the high life and thought of himself as a discerning consumer even though his salary wasn't enough to pay for his lavish tastes.

The 131-day trial of Hui, and Sun Hung Kai Properties co-chairmen and brothers Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen is over, with Hui and Thomas Kwok found guilty of bribery.

Somehow Raymond Kwok was acquitted on all four charges against him and walked free.

It basically boils down to Hui acquiring hyper materialistic tastes and not being able to live on a budget, and supposedly succumbed to bribes from the Kwok brothers to maintain his lavish lifestyle.

Thomas Kwok was also convicted of bribery

In court it was revealed Hui liked to spend money traveling to Europe and Japan to attend exclusive operatic performances, once dropping HK$150,000 to stay in London's Dorchester Hotel.

He also spent HK$2 million at one music store for several years, and had no qualms going on a HK$200,000 shopping spree in one store on CDs and vinyl records. At that time his annual income was HK$4.6 million.

But after then chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was re-elected in 2007, Hui became a non-official executive council member and his salary dropped to HK$105,000 a month. However he continued to withdraw HK$1 million a month using overdraft facilities, and on his credit card bills he would only pay the minimum amount.

"Basically I did not have any savings. I spent almost everything I had," Hui said on the first day of his testimony.

Is that supposed to be considered a badge of honour? For a financial secretary to not pay off his credit card bills every month is shocking not to mention spending way beyond his means.

The writing was on the wall for Hui when the ICAC charged him with bribery and misconduct in office in July 2012; then creditors came calling, including Hang Seng Bank, Standard Chartered, and even Honour Finance, a subsidiary of SHKP.

As a result, Hui declared bankruptcy in November last year, not being able to repay Bank of East Asia. There were media reports he racked up debts of up to almost HK$75 million.

Not only was he a carefree spender, but also apparently a philanderer, cheating on his wife of more than 40 years.

"In 2008, I gave some money to a female friend in Shanghai," he confessed in court. "I do not recall the exact amount -- but I think at least HK$7 million or HK$8 million... some of which for purchasing properties, some for investments."

If this isn't a massive fall from grace, I don't know what is.

It will be interesting to see what sentence the judge metes out for Hui, as he will hardly be able to pay off his debts. What punishment would be suitable for someone like this?

While this trial is over, all eyes are now on Tsang, who has been very low key in the last few years. After he was caught on a yacht hanging out with tycoons, the former chief executive may be the next one in the dock.

How many other senior civil servants took advantage of their positions too? If the Hong Kong government wants to regain any kind of credibility, especially post-Occupy, surely it needs to clean up house too...