Ex-BAT Exec guilty in HK Trial (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

>Tobacco chief guilty in $33m bribes case
>Long fight against the law fails
>
>South China Morning Post
>Friday, 12 June 1998, pg 3
>By Cliff Buddle
>
>Corrupt ex-tobacco executive Jerry Lui Kin-hong lost his long
>fight to escape justice yesterday when a jury found him guilty
>of plotting to receive bribes of $33 million.
>
>Lui, 42, who was export director for British American Tobacco
>(HK) Ltd, evaded the Independent Commission Against Corruption
>for 20 months before being arrested in Boston in December 1995.
>
>During that time he even posed for a picture with an unwitting
>Chris Patten, who was attending an official lunch in the
>Philippines.
>
>After being captured, Lui fought a bitter 18-month extradition
>battle, claiming he would not receive a fair trial in Hong Kong.
>He was finally returned in May last year.
>
>Lui was found guilty of conspiring to accept $23 million in
>bribes and a loan of $10 million in return for ensuring
>distributors Giant Island received huge quantities of duty-free
>cigarettes earmarked for the mainland. He told the jury he had
>received $23 million but claimed this was in return for "market
>intelligence" provided to cigarette smugglers wanting to break
>into the Taiwanese market.
>  
>Mr Justice Wally Yeung Chun-kuen said he would sentence Lui at
>the Court of First Instance on Monday after hearing argument on
>how much money he should repay.
>  
>The judge will also consider the extent to which he should reduce
>Lui's sentence to take into account the time he spent in US
>custody.
>  
>During the trial, the court heard of the billions of dollars
>which can be made by smuggling popular brands of cigarettes.
>  
>Lui said leading tobacco companies sold duty-free cigarettes to
>distributors. Some of the distributors then smuggled the
>sought-after brands to lucrative markets in Taiwan and the
>mainland.
>  
>But prosecutor John Reading said the case against Lui was not
>about smuggling. Giant Island had bribed Lui in order to ensure
>a regular supply of duty-free cigarettes from his employers.
>  
>Between 1988 and 1993, millions of dollars were paid into an
>account held by Lui in Luxembourg. Five of the seven payments
>were made while he was working for British American Tobacco
>subsidiary Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation. The final
>two came when he was with British American Tobacco (HK), in a
>position enabling him to influence the quotas of cigarettes given
>to distributors.
>  
>Lui received an unsecured loan of $10 million after quitting his
>job in April 1993 and joining the Giant Island Group, the court
>heard.
>