A juror from an arts hub design contest has come forward in a bid to clear up conflict of interest claims involving chief executive hopeful Leung Chun-ying.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post a day before lawmakers vote on whether to invoke special powers to investigate the matter, Professor Chang Hsin-kang - one of Leung's nine fellow jurors selecting the winner of the arts hub design competition in 2002 - tried to reconstruct what happened during the vetting process.
He said that in the absence of a full disclosure of documents relating to the selection as yet, it was vital everyone knew what happened. 'I had hoped that the government would disclose the documents to put an end to the dispute. But instead of disclosing it fully, the government has caused more concern about it,' he said. 'Since Leung has a chance to become our next chief executive, his credibility and integrity is a very important issue to everybody, including myself.'
Chang, who retired as City University president in 2007, said he did not endorse the candidacy of either Leung or his rival, Henry Tang Ying-yen, and had declined invitations from both candidates to attend their election rallies. 'But I feel that we need to get to the bottom of this issue. Otherwise this will be a cloud forever hanging over Leung's head,' he said.
He said his concern was that both candidates would have a difficult time tackling the many challenges facing the city because of their separate unresolved controversies.
Leung's popularity has remained steady in polls despite the arts hub saga, in which he, as a juror, stands accused of conflict of interest in failing to disclose a business link between one of the contestants, a Malaysian contender, and his firm DTZ.
Leung voted for the Malaysian design - which was later disqualified - in five out of seven rounds, according to documents disclosed by the government last week.