Update | Ministers facing tougher conflict-of-interest rules

New conflict-of-interest guidelines mean Hong Kong ministers will have to take into account the business interests of family and friends to avoid being drawn into scandals.

The rules follow a series of embarrassments involving members of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's cabinet. In the latest incident, development minister Paul Chan Mo-po and his political assistant, Henry Ho Kin-chung, were caught up in a row over the ownership of plots of land that will be redeveloped in the New Territories.

Under the new rules, private interests are described as "the financial and other interests of the officer himself, his family and other relations, his personal friends, the clubs and associations to which he belongs, any other groups of people with whom he has personal or social ties, or any person to whom he owes a favour or is obligated in any way".

Previously, the code for political appointees, updated only last year, specified that an official must report to the chief executive if his or her private interests might appear to influence their judgment in performing duties.

But unlike the rules for civil servants, the code did not define the extent of such interests. The new guidelines also state that unless permitted by the chief executive, an official can only accept a loan from a "close personal" friend if it is of no more than HK$3,000.

The guidelines do not apply to non-official Exco members.

Pan-democratic and pro-establishment lawmakers gave the rules a lukewarm reception.