TONY CHEUNG TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 August, 2015, 12:00pm
UPDATED : Monday, 03 August, 2015, 12:20pm
Kennedy Wong is a former vice-chairman of the All-China Youth Federation, an organisation under the Chinese Communist Party (file photo). Photo: K. Y. Cheng
A prominent pro-Beijing lawyer has resigned as chairman of Hong Kong Resources Holdings after he was charged by the ICAC last week over an alleged bribery racket involving illicit payments.
On Saturday, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, 52, and two other men, Chui Chuen-shun, 61, and Richard Yin Yingneng, 62, had been charged under Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. They were accused of making an illegal agreement to pay fees for services rendered to a director of a listed company while it was being restructured.
In a statement released to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a company spokesman said: “To the best knowledge, information and belief of the board, the above charges by the ICAC were initiated against Dr Wong in his personal capacity and do not relate to the current affairs of the company or its subsidiaries.”
The spokesman also announced that since Wong had resigned as chairman with effect from yesterday, his wife Wong Chew Li Chin, 53, will take over the chairmanship.
Kennedy Wong will stay as the company’s consultant to “provide high level views on matters relating to major decisions to be made by the board [and] provide strategic views to the board on the direction of the company and its subsidiaries.”
Wong’s annual consultancy fee will be HK$1.5 million.
Once a rising star in the local pro-Beijing camp, at 33, Wong became the youngest member of the Provisional Legislative Council in 1997. Between 2000 and 2010, he was a vice-chairman of the All-China Youth Federation, an organisation under the Chinese Communist Party.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1846065/pro-beijing-lawyer-facing-icac-bribery-charge-resigns-hong
