Embattled chief executive hopeful Henry Tang Ying-yen has rejected calls to allow the media to inspect his home's illegal basement, saying it would intrude on his privacy.
'An illegal structure is an illegal structure. It doesn't matter what the facilities inside are,' Tang told reporters yesterday. 'The public has the right to know whether the basement was an illegal structure, which I have admitted.
'And I have promised to rectify the problem and to take full responsibility,' he continued. 'I have considered the requests carefully and I came to a conclusion that [the basement facilities are] not part of the public's right to know. Therefore, I will not open it for media inspection or public sightseeing.'
An inspection by the Buildings Department on Thursday confirmed that there is a sizeable basement of at least 2,250 sq ft at the mansion at No7 York Road, Kowloon Tong. Tang's wife, Lisa Kuo Yu-chin, owns the property. The Buildings Department's surveyors declined to say what was in the basement.
Tang initially said on Monday that construction workers had 'dug a little bit deeper' underneath the mansion's garage and that the basement served as a 'storeroom'.
However, media reports suggested that the basement was as large as 2,400 sq ft and had luxurious facilities, such as a wine cellar, a wine- tasting room, a home theatre, a Japanese bath, a gym and a storeroom.
Tang denied the reports, but he also rejected calls from politicians and the media to allow the press to inspect the basement.
