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December 18, 2003

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Double Standards

A perfect example of double standards when it comes to HK's approach to governance. Firstly the good:

Stephen Wong Hon-ching, a former chairman of the Liquor Licensing Board, yesterday was found guilty of misconduct in public office because of an intimate relationship he had with a lawyer.
Wong, 50, had recommended solicitor Catherine Yu Mei-lin as legal representative to three people applying for liquor licences during his tenure as head of the board, from January 2000 to December 2001, the District Court heard.

Ms Yu also received information from Wong that gave her an advantage when representing her clients at board meetings he chaired.

...

The father of three visited Ms Yu's flat regularly from August 2001 and stayed for the night on occasions, in "what may properly be described as a close and intimate relationship", Judge Alan Wright said.

And here's the killer:
Rejecting a defence claim that Wong's conduct "may have been immoral or ill-advised" but "not criminal in nature", the judge said: "It is not my function in this trial to arrive at moral judgments. This is conduct that calls for condemnation and punishment and falls four-square within the established definition of the offence."
OK, so you run a Government licensing board and have an affair with one of the lawyers, giving her inside information, and that's an offence. Especially if you fail to disclose your relationship and recuse yourself from those cases. Good, so this guy's going to get what he deserves.

However, as I pointed out the other day, it's OK if you avoid about HK$180,000 in tax. You're the financial secretary, about to introduce a tax rise on new luxury cars, it is discussed often in front of you. You rush out and demand the new car from a dealer before the tax rise is announced. But that's NOT considered misconduct.

Double standards. That's all it is.

 posted by Simon on 12.18.03 at 09:54 AM in the




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Excerpt: viiz
Weblog: zooturgvnec
Tracked: January 5, 2005 05:51 PM


Comments:

I voted for you and my frinds too! =)
could you please vote for me. Thanks!

 posted by: princesska on 12.18.03 at 12:18 PM [permalink]

Simon, I think you are exaggerating the amount of tax Anthony Leung saved by buying a car at a time when he didn't realize he was about to increase car tax. It was a lot less than HK$180k! Maybe around HK$50k. And to be fair, he donated double what he "saved" to the Community Chest.

 posted by: Chris on 12.18.03 at 11:15 PM [permalink]




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