Leung Chin-man

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = Leung Chin-man
honorific-suffix = JP


imagesize =
small

caption =
order =
office = Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (Housing)
term_start = July 2002
term_end = 10 January 2006
predecessor =
constituency =
majority =
birth_date = birth year and age|1946
birth_place = Hong Kong
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = Chinese (Hong Kong)
party =
spouse =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =
occupation =
profession = civil servant
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Leung Chin-man JP (Chinese:梁展文 1946- ) is a retired senior civil servant in the Government of Hong Kong the former Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands. [cite press release
url= http://www.hongkongpost.com/eng/publications/news/2003/20031211a/index.htm
title= "Development of Public Housing in Hong Kong" Special Stamps Issuing Ceremony|author=
publisher= Hongkong Post, Government of Hong Kong|date= 11 December 2003|accessdate= 2008-08-07]

Government career

Leung first joined the Immigration Department in October 1966, and joined the Administrative Service in October 1976.

Leung served as Director of Community Relations of the ICAC from July 1988 to May 1991; Deputy Secretary for Constitutional Affairs from May 1991 to July 1994. He was posted to Toronto in July 1994 to be the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. On his return from Canada, he was made Deputy Secretary for Housing from September 1997 to August 1999 and Director of Buildings from August 1999 to June 2002. In July 2002, Leung became Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (Housing).cite press release
url= http://www.csb.gov.hk/print/english/info/1889.html
title= Announcement of Senior Appointments|date= November 15, 2005
publisher= Civil Service Bureau, Government of Hong Kong|accessdate= 2008-08-07]

Leung took leave from the civil service on November 28, 2005, ceased active service in January 2006, and retired officially on 10 January 2007.cite paper|url=http://www.csb.gov.hk/english/info/files/common/leung_eng.pdf |title=Report on the processing of the application from Mr Leung Chin-man to take up post-service outside work with New World China Land Limited |url=http://www.csb.gov.hk/english/info/files/common/leung_eng.pdf |date= 15 August 2008| publisher= Civil Service Bureau, Govt of Hong Kong|accessdate=2008-08-18] Leung was appointed Justice of the Peace on 1 July 2007. [cite press release
url= http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200707/01/P200706300166.htm
title= Justices of the Peace appointments|author=
publisher= Government of Hong Kong|accessdate= 2008-08-07] Since retiring, Leung was appointed Director or mainland-based Fineland Real Estate Holding, and PuraPharm International HKcite news
title= Pressure mounts on Tsang in job row over former official
author= Fanny Fung & Joyce Ng |Pages= A10
publisher= "South China Morning Post"|date= August 8, 2008]

Controversies

Hung Hom Peninsula housing estate

While Leung was Director of Housing, the government sold a disused but never previously occupied Private Sector Participation Scheme project.cite news
url= http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=69649&sid=20042344&con_type=1&d_str=20080805&sear_year=2008
title= Former housing chief faces legal bid to demolish his job with developer
author= Diana Lee
publisher= "The Standard" |date= August 05, 2008|accessdate= 2008-08-07] The Hung Hom Peninsula project was sold for a below-market land premium of HK$864 million to New World Development (NWD), who subsequently sold off half share to Sun Hung Kai. In 2004, the consortium announced the demolition of these buildings to make way for luxury apartments. The huge popular outcry about this needless destruction of "perfectly good buildings" to satisfy "corporate greed" resulted in an unprecedented about-turn: the developers withdrew the plan on December 10, 2004. [cite web
author = Michael & Teddy Ng | title = Demolition of Hung Hom flats scrapped
date = December 11, 2004 | publisher = The Standard
url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=14974&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=20041211&sear_year=2004
accessdate = 2007-01-29 ]

Grand Promenade development

Henderson Land Development won a tender for a site in Sai Wan Ho for "Grand Promenade" with a land premium of HK$2.43 billion in January 2001. Six months later, the developer successfully applied for and was granted permission to exclude the public transport terminus from the gross floor area in its building plancite news
title = Audit chief backs lawmakers in Promenade row
date = May 17, 2006
publisher = Hong Kong Standard
url = http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=18869&sid=7995525&con_type=1&d_str=20060517&sear_year=2006
accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] . Leung had exempted the area of a public transport terminus in the gross floor area calculation of the development. The effect was to allow the addition of 10,700 square meters to the project and doubling the number of apartments from 1,008 to 2,020, costing the government HK$125 million in lost revenuecite news
first = Albert
last = Wong
title = Audit chief in deal on judicial review
date = May 25, 2006
publisher = Hong Kong Standard
url = http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=19369&sid=8120113&con_type=1&d_str=20060525&sear_year=2006
accessdate = 2007-03-23 ] . A November 2005 Audit Commission report criticised Leung for having exercised his discretionary power before conferring with other government departments, thus handing the developer additional revenues of HK$3.2 billion in exchange for a land premium of $6 million. Leung tabled a judicial review. The two sides reached a deal in May 2006 when the Commissioner dropped legal proceedings, and Leung abandoned his judicial review.. The government drew fire for dropping its case.cite news
title= Developer defends hiring former housing boss
author= Sandy Li & Paggie Leung |Pages= A3
publisher= "South China Morning Post"|date= August 3, 2008]

Post-civil service appointment

In July 2008, Leung was named deputy managing director and executive director of New World China Land, subsidiary of NWD. After a 12-month 'sterilisation period' after retirement, Leung submitted an application to the government on 9 May for approval to take up employment with New World China Land.cite news
title= Officials didn't see decision causing a row
author= Gary Cheung |Pages= A10
publisher= "South China Morning Post"|date= August 16, 2008] The Secretary for the Civil Service, Denise Yue Chung-yee, signed off on the approval for him to take up the job after his request passed through the vetting committee.

There was uproar amidst widespread suspicion among members of the public that job offer was a "quid pro quo" for the favours he apparently granted to NWD in 2004.cite news
title= Tsang's civil unrest
author= Daniel Sin |Pages= A14
publisher= "South China Morning Post"|date= August 9, 2008] Controversies surrounded not only the suspicions of Leung's own conflict of interest, but also of the insensitivity of the committee which recommended the approval for him to take up his new job with a HK$3.12 million pay packet less than two years after his official retirement. New World argued that they hired Leung in good faith after government clearance.

On 15 August, the Civil Service Bureau admitted that it had not considered Leung's role in the Hung Hom Peninsula affair when approving his appointment.cite press release
url= http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200808/15/P200808150232.htm
title= SCS submits report to Chief Executive on Leung Chin-man's case
author= Secretary for the Civil Service
publisher= Civil Service Bureau, Hong Kong Government|date= August 15, 2008] Donald Tsang asked the SCS to reassess the approval, and submit a report to him.cite press release
url= http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200808/15/P200808150187.htm
title= Statement of the Chief Executive's Office
author= Chief Executive of Hong Kong
publisher= Chief Executive's Office, Hong Kong Government|date= August 15, 2008]

NWD announced in the early hours of 16 August that Leung had resigned from his post.cite news
title= Ex-housing chief shocked officials didn't consider Hung Hom deal
author= Cheung Chi-fai |Pages= A10
publisher= "South China Morning Post"|date= August 16, 2008] Leung professed his "shock" to learn that officials had not considered his role in the Hung Hom Peninsula sale, and said he would not be seeking compensation from the government, for its "inappropriate handling". The Secretary for the Civil Service apologised for the poor handling of the case,cite press release
url= http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200808/15/P200808150232.htm
title= SCS submits report to Chief Executive on Leung Chin-man's case
author= Secretary for the Civil Service
publisher= Civil Service Bureau, Hong Kong Government|date= August 15, 2008] which seriously undermined the authority and credibility of the Civil Service Bureau.cite news
title= Despite rethink, episode has done damage
author= Chris Yeung |Pages= op-ed
publisher= "South China Morning Post"|date= August 17, 2008]

See also

* Politics of Hong Kong

References