Ex-Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang’s trial about corruption at very top of government, prosecutors say
Male juror replaces woman on nine-member panel who could not pronounce ‘verdict’
Former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was sweetened with free renovations totalling HK$3.8 million for his retirement penthouse on the mainland so he could become a businessman’s friend in the government, prosecutors told his high-profile corruption trial on Wednesday.
Opening the weeks-long trial at the High Court, prosecutor David Perry QC also said it was a “classic case of conflict of interest” with “corruption that goes to the very top of the government”.
The case, he said, centred on various applications Tsang – as chairman of the Executive Council – granted to a local radio station owned by businessman Bill Wong Cho-bau. Wong, through different companies, paid the ex-chief executive’s renovation bill and his fees for hiring a world-renowned designer, he said.
“His chief loyalty as the chief executive was to the people of Hong Kong,” said the British barrister.
But he said Tsang abused his position as chief executive, and had used his office for his own personal advantage, dividing Tsang’s loyalty and hopelessly compromising his position.