(Hong Kong, 8 November 2005) Hutchison Whampoa Limited ("HWL") welcomed a court ruling today, in which a charge of conspiracy to defraud laid against two executives of ESD Services Ltd, an HWL subsidiary, was dismissed by the District Court with costs awarded.

A spokesman for HWL said, "The dismissal of the conspiracy charge was expected. The court found that there was no evidence to show the existence of any conspiratorial agreement or dishonesty.

"The court's ruling of no case to answer and the award of costs indicated that prosecution of the conspiracy charge was not warranted."

ESD Services Ltd has cooperated fully with the ICAC investigation.

Chief Operating Officer of ESDlife Tony Ma said, "The company has maintained from the outset that the charge of conspiracy laid against its executives is groundless and the management is pleased with the court hearing outcome."

ESDlife has remained focused on maintaining high levels of customer service and innovation during this testing period. As a well-recognised and leading e-commerce services provider, ESDlife is now looking forward to developing new business opportunities and providing even higher level of services.

About Hutchison Whampoa Limited

Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) is a leading international corporation committed to innovation and technology with businesses spanning the globe. Its diverse array of holdings range from some of the world's biggest retailers to property development and infrastructure to the most technologically-advanced and marketing-savvy telecommunications operators. HWL reports consolidated turnover of approximately HK$179 billion (US$23,000 million) and HK$109 billion (US$14,000 million) for the year ended 31 December 2004 and for the six months ended 30 June 2005 respectively. With operations in 52 countries and over 200,000 employees worldwide, Hutchison has five core businesses - ports and related services, telecommunications, property and hotels, retail and manufacturing, and energy and infrastructure.

Its flagship companies include Hutchison Port Holdings, Hutchison Telecom, Hutchison Whampoa Properties, A.S. Watson, and Cheung Kong Infrastructure.

For more information, please visit www.hutchison-whampoa.com

About ESDlife

ESD Services Limited is a joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa Limited and Hewlett-Packard HK SAR Limited. The company was appointed to implement the government's Electronic Service Delivery Scheme and launched an award-winning bilingual portal, ESDlife (www.esdlife.com) in January 2001. ESDlife is now offering more than 200 public services from over 50 government departments and public agencies. Through the establishment of a vast digital information infrastructure, the company has dedicated to providing a one-stop shop for public and commercial electronic services, as well as professional web solutions.

For further information, please contact:

Mr Jeremy Lau
Tel: (852) 6477 9089
Fax: (852) 2128 1766
Email: jeremyl@hwl.com.hk