Brothers Raymond and Thomas Kwok, of Sun Hung Kai Properties, hold second-largest family fortune in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption has arrested the chairmen of Sun Hung Kai Properties, Raymond and Thomas Kwok, on suspicion of corruption.
The brothers are worth $18.3bn (£11.5bn), the second-largest family fortune in Hong Kong after Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, founder of rival developer Cheung Kong (Holdings), according to Forbes magazine.
The company issued a statement saying the Kwoks would continue with their duties as chairmen and managing directors of Asia's largest developer by market value, and that normal business operations would not be affected.
The ICAC announced on its website that the people arrested, whom it did not identify, were "alleged to have committed offences under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and misconduct in public office".
"Two senior executives of a listed company in Hong Kong and a former principal official of the Hong Kong government have been arrested for suspected corruption," it said in a statement.
Gary Plowman, a former government prosecutor, said he had been to the ICAC and was representing one of the arrested parties but declined to identify him. "Nobody has been charged," he said.
Over the past four decades Sun Hung Kai, listed in 1972, has built some of the city's most expensive property, including luxury hilltop apartment blocks and harbour-front skyscrapers, including Hong Kong's tallest building, the International Commerce Centre on the Kowloon peninsula.
The company said 10 days ago that Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, a board member and the executive responsible for project planning and land acquisitions, had been arrested for suspected bribery.
Cable TV footage on Thursday showed Raymond Kwok entering the ICAC premises in a limousine, flanked by two unidentified men. The station also showed images of a lawyer for Thomas Kwok going into ICAC headquarters.
Shares in Sun Hung Kai Properties were suspended in Hong Kong on Thursday, as was trading in two of its subsidiaries, the mobile phone company SmarTone Telecommunications and data-centre operator SUNeVision Holdings. Sun Hung Kai has made an application to resume trading on Friday.