Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) yesterday promised to cooperate with an investigation into his alleged ties to rich tycoons, after revelations of his jaunts on private jets and yachts.
“I have nothing to hide,” the outgoing chief executive said in an emotional speech to lawmakers in parliament after he became the first Hong Kong leader to face a corruption probe.
“I promise everyone ... I will cooperate fully,” he said, referring to an investigation launched this week by the Independent Committee Against Corruption (ICAC).
Tsang’s speech was interrupted by angry calls for his resignation, as tempers flared over his trips on luxury jets and yachts belonging to wealthy businessmen with major commercial interests in the territory.
The bow-tie wearing career bureaucrat, whose term expires in June after seven years of service, appeared to hold back tears as he apologized for any misunderstanding over the “incidents.”
“The series of incidents have caused concerns from the public, media, lawmakers and civil servants, and shaken public confidence in the government. I hereby solemnly apologize to the public,” he said.
“Regardless of whether you still trust me, please do not lose faith in the Hong Kong system,” he said.
Opposition lawmakers and media analysts have lambasted Tsang since photographs of him enjoying a weekend on a tycoon’s luxury yacht in the gambling playground of Macau appeared in local newspapers last month.
Subsequent reports that the chief executive would retire to a cut-price penthouse apartment belonging to a wealthy property developer in Shenzhen further embarrassed Tsang.
Tsang has not denied the reports and added grist to the mill when he admitted to taking several trips on tycoons’ private jets in an apparent bid to portray such activity as a normal part of a Hong Kong leader’s routine.
He offered some new details yesterday, telling lawmakers he paid HK$500 (US$64) for his weekend trip to Macau, HK$5,900 for a trip to Phuket, Thailand, on a private jet, and would have paid HK$1 million a year for the apartment.
After discussing the controversy with his wife, he said he had decided not to rent the apartment after all.
“This is unprecedented, it’s the first time that a chief executive is investigated by the ICAC,” Liberal Party Chairwoman Miriam Lau (劉健儀) told the assembly.
Tsang rejected calls from some lawmakers for him to stand down pending the outcome of the investigation.
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