For Lisa Kuo, family comes first
Henry Tang's wife reiterates her loyalty as basement debacle lands her with massive fine
If Henry Tang Ying-yen had not lost the chief executive race last year, Lisa Kuo Yu-chin would now be Hong Kong's first lady.
Life took a different turn, however, when an illegal basement in the couple's Kowloon Tong home derailed Tang's bid for power and landed his wife with a heavy fine for unauthorised building works.
Kuo was ordered to pay HK$110,000 - the highest fine meted out among the 73 similar cases over the last 10 years.
The basement was dubbed "an underground palace" and reported to be equipped with lavish facilities including a wine cellar, home cinema, gymnasium and Japanese bath.
According to her counsel Gary Plowman SC, Kuo, now "extremely remorseful", only built the basement with a simple thought in mind - the happiness and comfort of her family.
Although Kuo's assertion that the incident had put her under tremendous pressure was dismissed by the court, being bombarded by the media for months on end and the work to restore the basement were perhaps the greatest-ever challenges faced by Kuo, the heiress to the Gunzetal textile dynasty.
Until Tang stepped down as chief secretary and launched his campaign for the top job in late 2011, Kuo's life would have seemed virtually perfect to many: she grew up in a wealthy upper-class family; married a rich and powerful husband whom she had loved since she was nine and he was 12; and raised four children.