Courts | Former HK official says co-defendant was his Macau love interest

A former Hong Kong government official, who is accused of acquiring over HKD500,000 in bribes from a Macau businesswoman, went to trial on Monday to defend allegations of misconduct.

Prosecutors allege that Wilson Fung, former deputy secretary of the Economic Development and Labour Affairs Bureau between 2003 and 2006, had concealed a conflict of interest by not declaring his personal dealings with Cheyanne Chan – Stanley Ho’s sister-in-law – while he handled her companies’ various applications with the government.

Fung is currently accused of two charges; a public servant accepting an advantage and misconduct in public office. He has denied both charges, arguing that he was in a relationship with Chan for over 12 years when he was arrested in November 2016.

According to reports, Chan was a former director and shareholder of three airline and helicopter companies. She is a defendant in the case and is also charged with offering an advantage to a public servant.

The former senior official said that he had been officially together with Chan since they confessed their feelings toward one another in Macau in December 10, 2003. He said that during this time they had never discussed business dealings.

Since Fung was also married to a senior government official in Hong Kong, the couple went to Macau on 33 occasions and on five occasions to mainland China.

“Because I had a family, I didn’t want people to see us so we went to Macau,” Fung said, as cited in a report issued by the South China Morning Post.

Fung said he assisted Chan in negotiating prices and arranging commission discounts when Chan made her property purchases – which Chan had been doing since 1986.

“She wasn’t very keen on making investments at first, she just wanted to see me longer,” he said.

Fung was said to have hidden HKD510,000 given to him in September 28, 2004 as an initial deposit Chan paid to purchase his flat.

Chan had purchased three flats for the amounts of HKD6.1 million, HKD17.88 million and HKD10.2 million, all in 2004.

Fung said he received a call from Chan after buying the latter property, and supposed that Chan felt it was too risky to buy three properties within a short period of time. Thus, Fung decided to take over the purchases.

“I told Ms. Chan I would pay her back [the deposit] no matter what,” Fung said.

Meanwhile, Fung testified that Chan offered to share half of the HKD1.2 million profit she earned from selling the first flat she purchased, which would offset the HKD510,000 initial deposit she paid for the HKD10.2 million property.

However, Fung says that he did not accept the money, also adding that he held a joint bank account with his wife and did not want to be suspicious of where the money came from.

Fung said that he was introduced to Chan by the chief executive of Helicopters Hong Kong, a company offering helicopter tours over the SAR, within a month of joining the bureau to oversee aviation matters.