Politicians, businessmen, real estate, drugs and Spanish junkets. Some very Hong Kong stories.

Firstly newly appointed Chief Secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan hasn't got off to a great start. The SCMP:

Instead of moving into Victoria House on The Peak - a residence much loved and praised by his new boss Donald Tsang Yam-kuen - Mr Hui will have to fork out $160,000 a month from his own pocket for the duplex flat he rents in Leighton Hill through his former boss, Sun Hung Kai Properties.

He was unaware that regulations on accommodation changed several years ago with the introduction of the ministerial system of government and he would have to pay his own expenses if he did not take up the official residence that comes with the job.

Moving right along. Where do retired Chief Executives go? Why they stay right where they, thanks to Hong Kong's 12 taxpayers. Again the SCMP:

Taxpayers are still paying more than $100,000 a month for a flat used by Tung Chee-hwa four months after he stepped down as chief executive.
A spokeswoman at the Chief Executive's Office said the 3,700 sq ft flat adjoining Mr Tung's own apartment in Grenville House, Magazine Gap Road, was leased until 2007, when his term of office had been due to end. She said the government was "in discussions with Mr Tung and the flat owner about subleasing arrangements". The former chief executive is keen to keep the second flat.

But maligning public servants is one thing. Unfortunately Canning Fok has discovered the downside of leasing out properties:

Police boarded up and plan to bulldoze a mansion in the Point Grey [Vancouver] neighborhood here linked to a Hong Kong business tycoon after discovering a drug lab inside, officials said.

Officials refused to name the owner, but according to the Province newspaper, the house worth 1.6 million dollars (1.3 million US dollars) is owned by the British Virgin Islands-based holding company Resear Ltd., which is under the directorship of Canning Fok.

Update

There's no Guggenheim Museum on Lantau Island. From the SCMP letters page:

Maybe it's the food? Seven Legco members have made the time to travel to Bilbao for several days of research relevant to the West Kowloon project on the grounds that they want to become better informed.

Two weeks ago, an alliance group of 19 NGOs, environmental and community groups invited 40 Legco members on an all-expenses paid, fully catered trip. This one was by boat to see the coastlines of North Lantau that are the focus of a much bigger and potentially more damaging development than West Kowloon. The trip would have taken only three hours on a Sunday afternoon, would have shown them areas of the island that they would not normally reach on their own and would have provided comprehensive information, statistics and data related to the planned developments and alternatives.

Not one of the invited Legco memebrs agreed to make the time to come. Not one. Perhaps they feel that Lantau is less important than West Kowloon (or Bilbao), or perhaps we should have offered tapas?