Do the members of Hong Kong's elite of inherited wealth understand the meaning of the words accountability and responsibility? David Li Kwok-po has now stepped down from the Executive Council, albeit reluctantly and without being obviously pushed by a chief executive who seemed inclined, not for the first time, to put personal relationships ahead of principles.
Mr Li is a personable individual who has always sought to be friends with everyone, straddling political and other fences with ease, despite a naturally shy disposition. He is not the kind of person to induce anger or resentment in others. But that does not explain why supposedly responsible individuals have rushed to defend the indefensible.
For sure, Mr Li personally never made money out of the leak of news, entrusted to him in confidence as a member of the board, of the impending Rupert Murdoch bid for Dow Jones. But the fact that he was not charged with a criminal offence, but was instead required to pay a civil penalty of US$8.1 million, cannot hide the serious nature of the leak.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Li received the news in the evening on April 12 last year. Next morning, he flew to Shanghai with his friend Michael Leung Kai-hung. On arriving in Shanghai, Mr Leung contacted his son-in-law who contacted his broker, Merrill Lynch, and began heavy buying of Dow Jones shares, accumulating some 415,000. During this time he was, according to the SEC, in touch with Mr Li on more than one occasion. When the Murdoch bid was announced, the shares jumped to about US$56 from the US$36 average price paid by Mr Leung. He has had to disgorge his profits and pay an equivalent penalty.
It beggars belief that someone who is on the board of at least 10 publicly listed companies does not understand the importance of confidentiality in this kind of situation. He must have realised that a Murdoch bid for Dow Jones would be a matter of global interest, as well as a major market-moving event.
Whether Mr Li wanted to do his friend a favour, or was just talking loosely, is not known. But it is a huge embarrassment for Hong Kong. It will be an even bigger one if cronyism allows the issue to be treated lightly, thereby giving the impression that insider trading and breach of trust are taken lightly in what claims to be a well-regulated financial centre.