Two of Hong Kong's biggest property tycoons who were arrested last week in connection with a corruption investigation protested their innocence on Tuesday.
"I can say that personally I have done nothing wrong. And I can vouch for Mr. Thomas Kwok that he has done nothing wrong either," Raymond Kwok, one of the tycoons, said at a news conference, referring to his brother.
"I hope this investigation will clear my name," he said.
The two brothers control Hong Kong's largest property development company, Sun Hung Kai, which helped to build some of the tallest buildings in the city's celebrated skyline.
Speaking outside the company's headquarters alongside his brother on Tuesday, Raymond Kwok insisted that the investigation would not affect everyday operations at the company. Sun Hung Kai's share price is down sharply since the news of the arrests emerged.
The developments last week set off a news media frenzy in the city, where real estate is a local obsession. The Kwok brothers' fortune is $18.3 billion, according to Forbes Magazine, which ranks the brothers and their family as the 27th richest in the world.
Also arrested on suspicion of corruption last week was a person described by Hong Kong's Department of Justice as "a former principal official of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region," a spokesman for the Independent Commission Against Corruption said.
The commission's report said "the arrested persons are alleged to have committed offenses under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and misconduct in public office."
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, is considered to be one of the world's least corrupt territories. According to Transparency International's 2011 Corruptions Perceptions Index, Hong Kong is the 12th least corrupt territory in the world -- with the United States, by comparison, ranked 24th.
The arrests come 10 days after the company's executive director, Thomas Chan, was arrested by the commission in connection with a bribery investigation.
Four other people, whose backgrounds weren't disclosed by authorities, were also arrested on corruption charges.
The firm has set up a special committee to handle all matters arising from the investigation, and the company's board, whose six members include the two brothers, has resolved that the Kwoks will "continue to undertake and discharge their duties to the group, including their duties as joint chairmen and managing directors of the company," according to a company statement last week.