Mr Thomas Kwok and Mr Raymond Kwok, who run one of Asia’s biggest property companies, have been arrested on bribery charges.
According to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the two brothers, who are joint chairmen and managing directors of Sun Hung Kai Properties in Hong Kong, were taken into custody along with a former senior government official. These events follow the arrest of one of the company’s executive directors, Mr Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, who was charged with suspected bribery.
Sun Hung Kai Properties has announced that it has created a special committee to look into the ICAC investigation. Meanwhile, the company’s board have said that the arrests will not affect business operations and the two brothers will continue in their current roles.
According to Forbes magazine the brothers control a family fortune worth $18.3 billion and are ranked No.27 on its list of the world’s billionaires.
Some observers believe that the arrests are connected to a high profile Kwok family dispute which resulted in a third brother, Mr Walter Kwok, being stripped of his chairmanship of Sun Hung Kai Properties.
Mr Luen of Hong Kong brokerage firm Lyncean Holdings commented “It looks like big brother got booted out of the company, and he’s now exacting his sweet revenge […] When there is a family feud, and it produces enough evidence to implicate them, it destroys the façade of harmony and family loyalty”.
