Official in lands row to get new posting

The senior lands official caught in a conflict-of-interest row over a land purchase is to be moved to a new post, away from the area of controversy, the Lands Department said last night.

The decision follows a public outcry, and the department added that it would handle all complaints in an objective manner. Its statement failed to say whether it would start a disciplinary process or introduce stricter rules for its staff regarding any personal land investments.

Anita Lam Ka-fun, an assistant director at the department who supervises four District Lands Offices, and her surveyor husband Thomas Tang Chiu-man acquired about 8,000 square metres of agricultural land in April 2012 in Yuen Long - one of the districts she supervises.

The purchase came two months after Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced in his budget that the government would study the potential for developing the area. And it came two months before she was promoted to her current post from chief estate surveyor.

Two years on and Lam's land in Tsing Tam village now lies just outside the boundary of the area being studied for the planned Kam Tin new town.

The department said Lam had declared her interest within seven days of the land acquisition. As a result, she was instructed not to handle issues involving that site.