The chairman of troubled Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016), Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, said yesterday that to rent Tsim Sha Tsui's International Commerce Centre at extremely low prices without prior approval from the board, and without notifying him as chairman, was hurting the company's interest. In reaction to his two younger brothers' allegation that he would be stopping the rental improperly, Kwok charged instead that Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen's rental decision had not been done through proper procedures.
"It's normal and usual practice, when disagreements appear, to put them to the board of directors for discussion," sources closed to the eldest Kwok said.
In response, an SHKP spokesperson said all business decisions had been made with the approval of the board of directors and through proper procedure. "Other than that, we have no comment to make." The spokesperson also denied a market rumor that the company plans to call an extraordinary general meeting to remove Walter Kwok as chairman.
Walter Kwok's hitting back at his two brothers is a continuation of their fight via the media since he filed a writ last Thursday. That writ stopped a board meeting to permanently remove him from his current position. A High Court hearing is scheduled for this Friday.
Thomas Kwok and Raymond Kwok, also vice chairmen of SHKP, raised 17 grievances about their elder brother's action, on Friday after the writ was filed. They said Walter Kwok had made major management decisions unwisely and without consulting them.
On Monday it was revealed that Walter Kwok had made a report to the police last Friday against a US-based doctor for allegedly practicing medicine in Hong Kong unregistered and prescribing unlicensed medicine to him.
