Two ministers apologised yesterday for illegal structures and building work at their properties, as the controversy rolled on.
The apologies came on the second day in office of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who is facing legal challenges and calls for him to resign over the illegal structures found at his house on The Peak.
Food and Health Secretary Dr Ko Wing-man made a second apology for not seeking approval before merging his two penthouse flats in Kowloon Tong. This was followed by Ko's colleague, Education Secretary Eddie Ng Hak-kim, apologising for an unauthorised drying rack outside his tenanted flat in Wan Chai.
Meanwhile, Leung has yet to clarify whether a trellis at his home - one of six unauthorised structures found at the Peel Rise property - was a replacement for a trellis built by the former owner or a new one that he had built.
In an ironic twist, one of the 'authorised persons' Leung hired to inspect his home last month was found to have an illegal housing structure.
Andy Wong Kam-din, a Poly University engineering professor, changed the flower bed design at his home in Tsuen Wan without seeking approval, and a removal order the Buildings Department issued in May 2010 has yet to be complied with.
Wong said in statement last night that the removal order covered 1,500 households in similar situations to his on the estate where he lived and that more than 100 of them, including him, had filed appeals. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 22, he said.