UpdatePaul Chan's family pledges to sell site in new town land row
Family vows to sell farming plot earmarked for new town and government tries to limit damage as minister faces further demands to step down
The government was in damage-control mode last night in the conflict-of-interest row over development minister Paul Chan Mo-po as his family members pledged to sell their stakes in land earmarked for a new town.
Pressure mounted on Chan to resign or step aside from responsibility for the development at Kwu Tung North, where his family owns 18,000 sq ft of farmland.
Our company feels unease that the land acquisition that took place 19 years ago has stirred up public speculation after Chan's appointment as the secretary
A source close to the government said it was considering options to minimise the damage caused by the political crisis, but Chan had not decided to resign as of yesterday. Chan is understood to have stayed away from the regular meeting with the chief executive and other ministers yesterday.
Statement Industries, the company through which the land was acquired in 1994 - now owned by family of Chan's wife, Frieda Hui Po-ming - said it would sell the land in an open tender at a market price assessed by an independent surveyor.
"Our company feels unease that the land acquisition that took place 19 years ago has stirred up public speculation after Chan's appointment as the secretary," the company said.
Hui said last night she and her family had suffered serious distress from the huge outcry. "I'm a professional and a career woman. I invested in land and properties. But I have stopped local investment and selling properties since Chan's appointment."
Chan admitted after a media exposé on Monday that his family owned the land in an area to be taken for public housing. It also emerged that his wife sold her share only in October, three months after Chan took over the Development Bureau.