For the first time in its 43-year history Sun Hung Kai Properties, the world’s second-largest developer by market capitalisation, is facing the possibility of not having a member of the Kwok family at its helm.
On Friday, the company’s co-chairmen and joint managing directors Thomas, and Raymond Kwok, were charged with bribing a former Hong Kong government official in a HK$34m (US$4.4m) scandal. Lawyers say that if found guilty both men face a maximum sentence of seven years in jail.
The two brothers, who together are the second wealthiest tycoons in Hong Kong after Li Ka-shing, on Friday said daily operations at the company their late father co-founded had been “running as usual” since their initial arrests on March 29. “Our staff have not been affected by the matter or market rumours,” said Thomas Kwok.