Abby Choi murder: Hong Kong authorities vow to tackle public housing abuse after model’s ex-father-in law found to own luxury home and subsidised flat
- Housing chief pledges to review eligibility rules under Home Ownership Scheme to close loophole that allows wealthy public housing tenants to buy subsidised flats
- Housing Bureau earlier admitted the government had not checked incomes and assets of public flat applicants since launching scheme in the 1970s
The pledge from Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin on Wednesday came as lawmakers took aim at her bureau over inadequate safeguards in the system amid accusations that Choi’s former father-in-law Kwong Kau had exploited the Home Ownership Scheme.
Kwong, 65, is one of three defendants charged with 28-year-old Choi’s murder. The others are his sons Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 31, and Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 28, who was the model’s ex-husband.
Choi’s former mother-in-law Jenny Li Sui-heung, 63, was charged with perverting the course of justice for allegedly destroying evidence during a police investigation.
In November 2019, Kwong Kau was registered as the owner of a 1,820 sq ft luxury flat in the exclusive Kadoorie Hill neighbourhood in Ho Man Tin.
Less than a year later, he was listed as the owner of a 291 sq ft subsidised flat at Sheung Man Court in Kwai Chung. The flat was sold under the Home Ownership Scheme for HK$2.18 million in July 2020 and had a HK$2.1 million mortgage.
The mortgage value suggests Kwong only made a down payment of HK$110,000, or 5 per cent of the flat’s price, the minimum required from applicants.