Donald Tsang guilty of misconduct in office, making him first Hong Kong leader convicted in criminal trial
Former chief executive cleared of second count but jury fails to reach verdict on bribery, prompting the possibility of a new trial
Donald Tsang Yam-kuen became Hong Kong’s first ever chief executive to be convicted in a criminal trial as the High Court on Friday found him guilty of misconduct in public office when he was the city’s leader.
His fall from grace was played out in extraordinary drama last night as the jury, after 20 hours of deliberation, cleared him of another misconduct charge and failed to reach a verdict on a third charge of bribery.
After a six-week trial, Tsang faces a maximum sentence of seven years behind bars for misconduct in public office between 2010 and 2012. Tsang, 72, was granted bail, as the case was adjourned to Monday for mitigation by his defence team.
The nine jurors, by a majority verdict of eight to one, found Tsang had deliberately concealed his negotiations over a three-storey penthouse belonging to a company chaired by businessman Bill Wong Cho-bau. That was when he approved various applications, including a digital audio broadcasting licence, for radio station Wave Media, of which Wong was a shareholder.
Tsang should have declared it to the Executive Council he then chaired, the jury of nine, eight women and one man, concluded. Other applications by the broadcaster that were approved included the surrender of its analogue licence, as well as the appointment of executive councillor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung as its chairman.
But the jurors were unable to reach a verdict on a bribery charge – of the chief executive accepting an advantage – which accused Tsang of accepting the free redecoration of the Shenzhen penthouse. It cost HK$3.35 million, all paid for by Wong’s company.