Lew was born in Taishan in Guangdong in 1948. In 1973, he swam to Hong Kong with nothing more than swimwear and took a job at a stainless steel factory and became its head. In 1976, he joined a Japanese futures contract company as a broker. He rose to the chief advisor for the C.A. Pacific Forex Limited (CAPFL). He later moved into the energy industry and became the executive director of the Smart Rich Energy Finance (Holdings) Limited. In 2009, he became the deputy chairman and executive director of Pearl Oriental Oil Limited.[8]
From 2011, Lew was a member of the Election Committee through the Religious Sub-sector. He was a high-profile supporter of Leung Chun-ying early in the 2012 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election.[10] His support for Leung began in 2010, when Leung approached him in Beijing to ask him if he could help sway public opinion to his side. Lew pitched Leung to Ma Ching-kwan, then chairman of the Oriental Press Group, publisher of Oriental Daily and The Sun. During the Chief Executive campaign, Leung's chief rival Henry Tang was exposed by the media with a series of scandals, including his illegal basement at his residence. Lew even went to Tang's doorstep, to hand out flyers urging Tang to withdraw from the election. As Tang's popularity suffered severely in wake of the scandals, Beijing eventually turned its favourite to Leung.[12] Lew was also involved in setting up an infamous dinner in Lau Fau Shan between Leung's campaign office and Heung Yee Kuk leaders as well as alleged former triad head Kwok Wing-hung during the election campaign in March 2012.[13]
However, after Leung was elected, Lew made a series of allegations against Leung, including that Leung had failed to honour his promise to nominate Lew as a vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference,[14] and that Leung had reneged on appointing Lew to the Executive Council.[15] In 2013, Lew revealed in an interview with iSun Affairs details of Leung’s alleged broken promises and his alleged illegal structures at his home on The Peak.[12]
He became more critical of the Hong Kong government and also some policies of the mainland government. He attended the July 1 march in 2014 opposing Beijing’s controversial white paper on Hong Kong’s autonomy and a demonstration against the abduction of Causeway Bay Books publisher Lee Po. He also endorsed Alvin Yeung of the pan-democratCivic Party in the 2016 New Territories East by-election. He said that "I will help improve one country, two systems ... by neither allowing Hong Kong to turn into a sovereign state nor one country, one system."[12]
In August 2022, he warned against the Hong Kong government treating the United States and other western countries as enemies, saying that turning Hong Kong into an "anti-U.S. battlefront" would not help the city.[16] He also criticized government officials, such as John Lee, for condemning Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, saying that the Basic Law stipulates that foreign affairs should be taken care of by the mainland Chinese government.[16]
Charges and conviction
Lew was arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on 25 February 2013 on charges of perverting the course of justice when he was alleged to have sent a letter to Leung, asking him to stop the ICAC from investigating him in a fraud case.[3][5][15]
In October 2013, Lew was charged with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, as were two other executives of Pearl Oriental Oil and a third person.[17] In March 2015, he was found not guilty.[8]
However, in February 2016, he was found guilty of perverting the course of justice over the letters and emails he sent to Leung Chun-ying attempting to stop the earlier case. He was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. A year later, on 27 February 2017, he was released from prison after serving two-thirds of his sentence, the norm for good behaviour.[18][19]
