Rafael Hui Si-yan, a former Hong Kong chief secretary who was jailed for pocketing nearly HK$20 million from a prominent land developer, has died at the age of 77.
“Mr Rafael Hui passed away at [Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital] peacefully on Sunday after a brave fight with an acute illness,” a source told the South China Morning Post.
Hui served as the city’s No 2 official from 2005 to 2007. He was jailed for 7½ years after being convicted in 2014 of plotting to commit misconduct in public office and other charges.
A court found him guilty of accepting HK$19.6 million from Sun Hung Kai Properties, offered by then co-chairman Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and two middlemen – then executive director Thomas Chan Kui-yuen and Francis Kwan Hung-sang, who was a stock exchange official.
Hui was released in December 2019 after spending five years behind bars.
He was born on February 8, 1948, and joined the civil service in 1970 after graduating from the University of Hong Kong.
Hui was also among the first policy secretaries following Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty to be honoured with the Gold Bauhinia Star – the city’s highest honest.
