Car, bodyguards for former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang raise questions
While some ask how appropriate it is for a convicted person out on bail to take services at public expense, Democratic Party lawmaker says it is probably in order
The former chief executive was seen last Tuesday taking a seven-seater vehicle to church and to a Hong Kong Jockey Club restaurant with his wife, Selina Tsang Pou Siu-mei, and a group of plain-clothes officers from the police VIP protection squad.
The vehicle, its driver and the bodyguards were paid for by the government under rules agreed by the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee in 2005, which backed a set of proposals by an independent commission on what a former chief executive should and should not be entitled to from the public purse.
A senior police officer who asked not to be identified questioned the provision of the vehicle and driver at public expense and the message it sent.
“The bodyguards I can understand, but given that Mr Tsang was convicted of misconduct in public office and that he held the most important position in the city, you might have thought that complete discretion when it came to the public purse would be employed – until all the legal proceedings have been completed,” the officer said.