Property tycoon Henry Cheng Kar-shun told a Legco inquiry that the row over his hiring of ex-housing chief Leung Chin-man had been politicised ahead of last year's Legislative Council election.
In what is believed to be a historic first, Mr Cheng, the chairman of New World China Land, fronted up to a three-hour Legco hearing yesterday. As far as key legislators can remember, it is the first time the chairman of a listed company has testified before such a hearing.
He said that when he offered the retired government official an executive directorship in August last year, the possibility of public criticism relating to Mr Leung's recent employment as a senior government official with direct links to the housing sector had not occurred to him.
Mr Leung, the man at the centre of the row, was also at the hearing yesterday, making his first public appearance since his aborted appointment to New World China Land last year. However, the retired official's first testimony, scheduled for yesterday after Mr Cheng, was postponed until early next month.
The row about his private-sector employment, which became a hot topic of debate, came to light about a month before the Legco election in early September.
'What went wrong was that [the appointment] coincided with the Legco election,' Mr Cheng said. 'Many people took advantage of the incident and created a political platform for themselves. The incident became sensitive, which was something I could not have foreseen.'