Leung urged to call press conference over structures
As chief's statement raises new doubts, Beijing loyalist Rita Fan says he should clarify facts
Veteran Beijing loyalist Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai has urged Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to call a press conference to clear doubts over the illegal structures at his home on The Peak.
The call puts more pressure on Leung to give an open account of the affair. On Friday he issued a 14-page statement explaining details and blaming a memory lapse for any confusion over the structures. But this only raised new questions.
Fan, who is running for another term as a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress, said not everyone would accept a written explanation, but she dismissed calls for Leung to step down.
"No matter if it is a lapse of memory or whatever other reasons, he did not tell the truth in the first place," she said. "It is good for him to clarify the facts now. But if he could openly clear the doubts ... I think it could make more people believe he is honest and credible."
Leung won the chief executive election in March after taking advantage of rival Henry Tang Ying-yen's scandal over illegal structures at his Kowloon Tong home.
Fan refused to speculate whether Leung had "cheated on the central government".
Pan-democrat legislators said Leung's written statement was inadequate; others said he had proved he did not intend to lie.