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(Left to right) Lo Sui-sing, moderator of the forum; Tsang Tak-sing, Secretary for Home Affairs; Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, Secretary for Transport and Housing attend the 2013 Policy Address and 2013-14 Budget regional forum at Youth Square in Chai Wan. Photo: Sam Tsang

More protests greet CY Leung at regional forum

Inspectors fail to gain access to CY Leung's Stanley property

Leung Chun-ying faced more grilling on Tuesday evening as he attended the second regional forum in Chai Wan in preparation for his upcoming debut policy address and budget.

Before the forum started, pro- and anti-Leung protesters clashed outside Youth Square in Chai Wan.

Inside most most of the questions raised by audience members were on social issues, such as rising property rents, public housing, elderly dental services and the environment.

Some questioners expressed their support for Leung’s administration, while others questioned the chief executive on his unauthorised structures controversy.

One man, who covered his face with a mask of Leung’s election rival Henry Tang Ying-yen, asked whether Leung would open his Stanley flat for media inspection.

He also said, “I also wanted to ask whether you have colluded with [Director of Buildings] Au Choi-kai concerning the unauthorised structures [in Leung’s Peak residence]?” The CE did not respond to the question.

Two members of radical group People Power played recordings of Tang questionning Leung during the chief executive election race, but the forum moderator asked them to focus on policy issues instead.

And similar to last Monday’s forum there were shouts of “Down, down, Leung Chun-ying” in the Youth Square theatre, while Leung fan’s chanted “Support CY!”

Earlier in the day, the Buildings Department said it could not yet confirm whether there is an illegal extension of Leung’s Stanley property after failing to gain access for an inspection on Tuesday afternoon.

Inspectors plan to carry on the investigation and check flats in the same building.

Officers spent an hour in Leung’s old home on Tung Tau Wan Road in Stanley a day after Leung told lawmakers that he would arrange for a visit with his tenants.

A spokesman said: “As our staff observed inside the flat there was no access or door to connect the unit to the space standing between the flat and the man-made slope behind.”

“Our staff also did not find any illegal structures belonging to the category that needs priority action, nor [did they] find a so-called ‘sealed room’.”

This followed media reports that there was an illegal extension to a first-floor flat which Leung bought in 1979, and lived in until the early 1990s.

The issue came under media scrutiny after a construction worker told a magazine last month that he helped build an illegal extension for Leung as a storage for toys years ago.

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