Police look into whether Hong Kong justice chief ‘intentionally misled’ bank to secure mortgage
Force begins inquiries after opposition politicians file complaint accusing Teresa Cheng of keeping basement off the books to win financing in 2008
Police are looking into complaints filed against Hong Kong’s beleaguered justice minister, with sources saying one line of inquiry will be whether she “intentionally misled” a bank to secure a mortgage without mentioning an illegal basement at her house.
The scandal over Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah’s failure to disclose illegal structures at her HK$26 million home in Tuen Mun deepened as the NeoDemocrats made a report at police headquarters in Wan Chai on Friday, a day after another opposition group, the Labour Party, filed a similar complaint.
Both parties accused Cheng of keeping the basement off the books to secure mortgage loans from a bank in 2008.
A police source close to the matter said officers were “assessing if a criminal element was involved” but that the case would not be passed on to the Commercial Crime Bureau at this stage.
“We cannot only rely on the mortgage document as revealed in media. We have to look into details of the deal,” the veteran commercial crime investigator said. “We will look if the accused person intentionally misled the bank to receive the loans.”
