|
 Part of the brief includes "considering and deciding whether
prosecution action is warranted" against Leung, who has refused to
stand down in recent weeks over protesters' calls for Beijing to
keep its promise of universal suffrage.
The department said its decision was aimed at avoiding "any possible
perception of bias, partiality or improper influence".
Democratic lawmakers had demanded anti-graft officers investigate
Leung, ratcheting up pressure on the pro-Beijing leader just days
after tens of thousands occupied the streets of the Asian financial
center.
The campaign against the former property surveyor and son of a
policeman has extended from the streets to the city's legislative
chambers where democrats have threatened to veto major decisions and
potentially cause policy paralysis.
Australia's Fairfax Media reported this week that engineering firm
UGL Ltd paid Leung a total of $6.4 million in 2012 and 2013 in
relation to its acquisition of DTZ Holdings, a property consultant
that employed Leung as its Asia Pacific director before he took
office in July 2012.
Leung's office denied any wrongdoing. DTZ was not immediately
available to comment, while UGL said it was under no obligation to
disclose the agreement.
As part of the contract Leung signed with UGL in December 2011, he
agreed to promote the "UGL Group and the DTZ Group as UGL may
reasonably require, including but not limited to acting as a referee
and adviser from time to time", according to a copy seen by Reuters.
Leung's office said in a statement that such assistance would only
be provided in the event that he failed to be elected Hong Kong
leader, and providing that such assistance would not create any
conflict of interest.
Leung stepped down from DTZ on December 4, 2011, two days after
signing the deal with UGL, which acquired the property consultancy.
Leung was sworn in as Hong Kong chief executive in July 2012.
"After CY Leung became CE (chief executive), he should have
terminated the contract, because as a CE, it was impossible for him
to continue accepting huge payment to help promote UGL or DTZ,"
Democratic Party chief executive Lam Cheuk-ting said in a letter to
the Independent Commission Against Corruption seen by Reuters.
"There's reason to believe that CY Leung was eyeing the unpaid
remuneration by UGL so that he continued with the agreement. Even
worse, since CY Leung honored the agreement and accepted the
payment, how could he not declare to the Executive Council?" said
Lam, who is a former anti-graft agency official.
The ICAC said it did not comment on individual cases.
UGL said the agreement was simply a non-compete arrangement to
ensure that Leung would not move to a competitor, set up or promote
any business in competition with DTZ, or poach any people from DTZ.
Emily Lau, head of the Democratic Party, told Reuters it would try
to form a select committee to investigate and possibly impeach
Leung, although the formation of such a group would have to be
backed by the entire 70-seat legislature and there was no guarantee
that would happen, given the pro-Beijing majority.
POLICY BACKLOG
Scenes of tear gas wafting between some of the world's most valuable
buildings, violent clashes, mass disruptions to business and
commuter chaos over the past 11 days have underscored the challenges
Beijing faces in imposing its will on Hong Kong.
[to top of second column]
|
The protests have already caused a backlog in the former British
colony's Legislative Council where scores of meetings have been
canceled.
China's Communist Party leaders rule Hong Kong through a "one
country, two systems" formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and
freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal
suffrage as an eventual goal. One of those freedoms is an
independent judiciary. But Beijing ruled on Aug. 31 it would
screen candidates who want to run for chief executive in 2017, which
the democracy activists said rendered the universal suffrage concept
meaningless.
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday threatened to veto some government
funding applications, although none that affect people's daily
lives, as they step up their civil disobedience campaign and try to
paralyze government operations.
On Friday, student leaders are to hold talks with government
officials in a bid to ease tensions.
"There will be a dialogue between government and students this
Friday," student leader Alex Chow told reporters.
"The government must respond to the public's demand for democracy
that can convince the Hong Kong people that we can see light at end
of tunnel, regarding democratic development, and that we can see
changes, instead of acting like a human recorder in repeating the
bureaucratic content that it had repeated and repeated again."
Protest numbers have dwindled to just a few hundred people at
various sites around the city, but activists have managed to keep up
their blockade of some major roads.
The report on payments to Leung, who has refused calls from
protesters all week to step down, will only pile further pressure on
the government and could even lead protesters pulling out of the
talks.
The Fairfax Media report does not suggest Leung committed any crime,
although it raises questions about transparency.
Leung signed the deal with UGL in December 2011, two days before he
stepped down as Asia Pacific director of DTZ, which is now a
division of UGL.
He had already announced his plans to run for Hong Kong's top job,
although his main rival, Henry Tang, was the presumed front-runner
until he was tarnished by an illegal construction scandal and
self-confessed marital infidelities.
An election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists chose Leung as
leader in March 2012 and he was sworn in on July 1.
Leung's company, CY Leung & Co, merged with DTZ in 2000. He was a
key player in the company's expansion into China.
(Additional reporting by Greg Torode, Farah Master, Donny Kwok,
Clare Jim, Michelle Price, Denny Thomas and Jane Wardell; Writing by
Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Nick Macfie)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
