Up to one-tenth of senior civil servants cross-leased their properties to gain as much benefit as possible from rental subsidies, a senior government officer says.
Philip Kwok Chi-tak, chairman of the Senior Government Officers' Association, yesterday explained why the perk, known as the private tenancy allowance, was the preferred option for senior civil servants.
'Senior officers were more attracted to the private tenancy allowance [than other programmes] from the very beginning, because it does not set a time limit and provides a larger subsidy,' he said.
Mak Chai-kwong (pictured) resigned as secretary for development on Thursday in a cross-leasing controversy involving his claim for the housing allowance in the 1980s. The same day, Mak and Tsang King-man - to whom he let his own flat and whose flat he in turn rented - were arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption along with their wives. Mak and Tsang separately left ICAC headquarters last night.
Kwok said the rent allowance was introduced to meet the needs of senior officers recruited from overseas, who would rent homes in Hong Kong, then buy a property after retiring and returning home. An alternative - the home purchase allowance - was introduced when the government began to hire more civil servants locally in the 1980s.
But senior officers still preferred the old tenancy scheme, because the new allowance only lasted for 10 years and its subsidy amounts were reviewed less frequently, Kwok said.
The tenancy scheme paid out about 20 per cent more, on balance, than the home purchase scheme.