Hong Kong prides itself on its civil service, the efficiency and integrity of which is thought to give the city a competitive edge over its regional rivals. This reputation has been hard earned by the 160,000-strong service over the decades.
There should have been little surprise, then, when a storm of controversy greeted the news that the former permanent secretary for housing, planning and lands was joining a company that had been closely connected with his former portfolio.
There has been much speculation that Leung Chin-man's HK$3.12-million-a-year job at New World China Land as an executive director and deputy chairman was a quid pro quo for the disputed sale of the waterfront Hunghom Peninsula housing estate to New World Development in 2004. The controversy has also sparked debate over the government's system for safeguarding against conflict of interest in post-retirement employment.
Mr Leung joined the civil service in 1966, and became an administrative officer in 1976. During his 30-year career, he served in a number of positions, including director of buildings from August 1999 to June 2002 and permanent secretary for housing, planning and lands from July 2002.
In 2001, during his tenure as director of buildings, Mr Leung gave Henderson Land a bonus parcel of land in the Grand Promenade development at Sai Wan Ho, which boosted the company's earnings by HK$3.2 billion.
In 2004, when Mr Leung was permanent secretary for housing, planning and lands, he participated in a deal to sell Hunghom Peninsula - built by the government for sale, but mothballed - for a below-market premium of HK$864 million to New World Development, which stood to reap a profit of more than HK$5 billion from demolishing it for a luxury development until a public outcry forced it to renovate the flats instead. Mr Leung emerged unscathed from both controversies and retired in early 2007 with an unblemished record.
Life moved on smoothly for Mr Leung, whose application to join New World China Land was approved by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Denise Yue Chung-yee. Mr Leung, who took pre-retirement leave from 2005, assumed the position this week.