Lai See | Governance standards struggle to get out of the basement

These days we seem to get a new scandal or irregularity every other week involving government officials and civil servants. It is dispiriting to say the least.

For many years the people of Hong Kong thought its government was reasonably clean and committed to working in Hong Kong's interests. However, the shenanigans surrounding last year's chief executive election opened a can of worms when it became apparent that a number of senior officials were committed to serving their own interests rather than those they were being paid to serve.

It was reportedly "common practice" for civil servants to swap flats so as to gain government rental allowances; the former ICAC chief spent vast amounts of money entertaining mainland officials, undermining the independence of the organisation and the so-called one country, two systems. Now we hear the head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption has had to "ban" alcohol within the organisation and will auction off its stocks.

The Public Records Office is a shambles and government records are not being properly maintained, experts in the Environmental Protection Department have been downgraded and one suspects the same process has occurred in other departments. We would like to think that the rule of law has so far remained unscathed.

Yet a few eyebrows were raised in legal circles over the charging of Henry Tang Ying-yen's wife, Lisa Kuo Yu-chin, in connection with the illegal basement saga. She was charged with breaches of the buildings ordinance which carry fines of up to HK$1 million and a few years in jail. She could have faced the more serious charge of conspiracy to defraud, which carries a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

Are governance standards slipping or have they always been this way but better concealed? The government is losing people's trust, confidence and respect, but alarmingly shows no sign of retrieving them any time soon.