25.02.2012
Files reveal CY's voting preference for entrant connected to his own company
Documents presented by the government on Friday showed that Leung Chun-ying, now a chief executive candidate, had almost consistently voted in favor of an entry in the West Kowloon design competition that listed his firm as a property advisor, although denied by Leung about the business association.
The Home Affairs Bureau had submitted a 122-page document to the House Committee at the Legislative Council for discussion with regards to an alleged conflict of interest issue in the art hub conceptual design competition in 2001.
CY Leung, the then convener of the Executive Council and managing director of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung Ltd, was appointed as one of the 10 jury members for the competition in April 2001.
The alleged conflict of interest issue relates to one of the 161 entries which was submitted byTR Hamzah & Yeang Sdn Bhd from Malaysia
However, the document did not elaborate about DTZ's role in the competition.
CY Leung, who hosted a press conference on Friday in response to the release of documentssaid in his defense that DTZ had only provided real estate valuation information without charging any fee and that he was not informed of the service provision until Feb 2002.
In a fax dated Feb 21, 2002, jury members were asked to fill in a one-page interest declaration form before Feb 23, which was a Saturday. CY Leung's form was only submitted on Feb 25, thefirst day of the jury meeting during which he was absent some of the time.
In the declaration form, Leung declared that he, himself, was not a director or major share holder of any company.
CY Leung explained that the form, which was derived from a particular paragraph in the competition's general conditions, to his understanding of the phrase "any company" only referred to "all those (who are) likely to be in conflict of interest".
Leung's voting pattern also showed a certain degree of favoritism toward's Hamzah & Yeang'sentry, though he repeatedly pointed out he had not recognized any work because the architectural firms' names were concealed from the jury.
Leung had cast his only vote for Hamzah & Yeang's work in both rounds of the voting. However,only one or two other members supported Leung's choice and eventually, Norman Foster's canopy concept won the top honor. Leung continued to vote for Hamzah & Yeang's entry for the second prize winner in the non-binding vote, but he and eight other members decided to vote for Philip Liao's team in the binding vote.
Each jury member were allowed to cast three votes for three honorable mentions. One of Leung's vote went to Hamzah & Yeang's entry again, though his preference was also shared by all but one of the jury members. CY Leung highlighted this result to prove his choice was not that extraordinary.
The competition team only realized DTZ was named as a team member by Hamzah & Yeang's irm after the voting had ended. CY Leung said it was only then he came to know about the conflict of interest issue, which then prompted him to verify the issue with DTZ.
Lawmakers at House Committee were split over Leung's innocence over the case. Wong Kwok-kin from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions said without a full transcript of the jury's discussion, which was not even documented and archived, the context of Leung's voting preference became unclear. Lee Wing-tat from the Democratic Party said the documents established a "prima facie" case of conflict of interest.
The West Kowloon scandal has put the chief executive candidate's integrity to test. Tsang Tak-sing, the secretary for home affairs, said the matter involves key public interest and the document release was apolitical.
Finally, the concept selected from the 2001 competition was ditched when the entire art hub plan was re-launched in 2006. New design competitions have taken place since 2010.
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