Henry Tang's wife was a good boss who paid in full, engineer says

A structural engineer who quit a project to build a lavish illegal basement under the Kowloon Tong home of former chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen praised Tang's wife as a "good employer" in court yesterday.

Lisa Kuo Yu-chin paid him in full for the work he had put in between 2002 and 2003 although she had decided to replace him as consultant on her redevelopment project, engineer Chezy Tang Wai-chau said.

"Lisa was a good employer," he told Kowloon City Court. "She paid me according to the schedule of the work, not a penny more, not a penny less. She was very generous."

Chezy Tang also said he believed it was entirely Kuo's decision to end his services, after he objected strongly to the basement plans.

Tang was testifying at the trial of architect Henry Ho Chung-yi, structural engineer Wong Pak-lam and contractor Hien Lee Engineering. The defendants deny starting construction of a basement in the York Road home without planning approval in 2005. The basement, dubbed an "underground palace", reportedly measured 2,400 square feet and contained a wine cellar, gymnasium and Japanese bath.

Tang told the court that at a meeting on September 1, 2003, "sparks flew" when Ho asked him to change the foundation design to incorporate a basement.

He did not think Ho had advised Kuo to dispense with him.