Hong Kong justice chief Rimsky Yuen says outcome of Donald Tsang corruption probe will soon be known
Justice chief says reason for lengthy three-year inquiry will be revealed at conclusion of case
The fate of former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen will soon be known, as the justice chief said yesterday the bribery investigation had entered "the final stage".
Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung also said the investigation was "not as simple" as some media had suggested.
At the same time, Independent Commission Against Corruption head Simon Peh Yun-lu noted that in general terms an arrest would be made as soon as the Department of Justice had approved it.
If he is arrested, Tsang will become the city's highest-level former official, before or after the 1997 handover, to be detained for corruption. His former aide, ex-chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan, was jailed late last year for pocketing millions of dollars from property developer Sun Hung Kai's executives.
Speaking on TVB's Straight Talk, Yuen said: "I'd say it's in the final stage of our deliberation."
Yuen added: "[Tsang's case is] not as simple as one perhaps reads from newspapers."
It has been alleged that Tsang, who was chief executive from 2005 to 2012, agreed to a low-rent deal for a luxury Shenzhen flat with a businessman who owns a Hong Kong radio station. He also allegedly accepted complimentary or cheap rides in private yachts or jets for travel to Macau and elsewhere.