Big business gave significant donations to Hong Kong chief executive-elect Carrie Lam
Donations for election winner totalled HK$18.7 million – with large proportion coming from business leaders and their wives, children and staff
It came as no surprise that the candidate favoured by Beijing for the chief executive’s post was backed by most of the city’s tycoons, but records released by the Registration and Electoral Office yesterday put the spotlight on their levels of commitment.
Henderson Land chairman Lee Shau-kee’s family was one of the major contributers after she set a cap of HK$100,000 for each of her 227 donors. Although the tycoon himself did not chip in, his daughters Susanna Lee Pui-yee and Margaret Lee Pui-man and younger son Martin Lee Ka-shing each donated the maximum amount, as did three executive directors of the property giant.
Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, did not personally donate either, but left it to three of his senior employees at Cheung Kong Property Holdings – chairman’s office manager Amy Au Siu-yin, executive committee member Yip Kin-ming and executive director Chung Sun-keung.
A surprise donor was Thomas Jefferson Wu, Hopewell Holdings’ second-generation boss, the only business leader who nominated Lam’s arch-rival, John Tsang Chun-wah.
