Betty Fung sick leave to end on Friday, but will she return to work?
It is not yet known if the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs will return to work on Monday, as questions remain over conflict of interest claims
Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, has been on leave since last Friday . On that day, she was seen leaving home carrying luggage, while not wearing her wedding ring.
A spokeswoman for the Home Affairs Bureau said on Thursday Fung was on sick leave and Deputy Secretary for Home Affairs Laurie Lo Chi-hong was undertaking her duties until Friday. .
A source familiar with the situation said the administration would need to handle the acting arrangement for Fung if the top official did not return to work on Monday as scheduled.
Wilson Fung Wing-yip, Betty Fung’s husband and executive director at the Hong Kong Airport Authority, admitted on Facebook the day after she went on leave that he had kept his wife in the dark about his “dealing” with Macau businesswoman Cheyenne Chan.
Chan, - a sister-in-law of Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho - is also the owner of the company Wiseson which exchanged two flats in Happy Valley for Betty Fung’s One Robinson Place property in Mid-Levels in late 2013.
Chan is a shareholder of another company, Sky Shuttle, a commercial helicopter operator.
Wilson Fung was a civil servant in charge of aviation affairs from 2003 to 2006. He worked at the Economic Development and Labour Bureau, which later split into the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau and the Labour and Welfare Bureau.
Betty Fung at first denied any wrongdoing, saying she did not know Chan was the owner of Wiseson.
But it was reported last week Wilson Fung knew Chan and had previously signed property transaction documents on behalf of Wiseson.
The ICAC had earlier decided to look into conflict of interest allegations against Betty Fung.
Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah said on Tuesday he did not know when Betty Fung would return to work.
Labour Party lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said Betty Fung taking leave in the past week had affected her work and the operation of the Home Affairs Bureau.
He said she should explain to the public if any conflict of interest was involved.
“The Civil Service Bureau should conduct an investigation to find out if there is any evidence of conflict of interest in the swap deal,” Lee said. “If yes, the bureau should suspend her.”
