Henry Tang infidelity In October 2011 affairs were publicised involving Henry Tang and Shirley Yuen,
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce CEO and his former administrative assistant, and Elizabeth Chan, Tang's personal assistant in the 1990s; both denied liaisons with him. His wife said in statement to the media that there had been difficult times in their relationship and that he has faults, but that she also appreciated his strengths. According to one media report, the revelations caused Beijing to drop their opposition to Leung standing as a candidate as a safeguard against more scandals involving Tang. Pan-democrat
Emily Lau specifically said Leung Chun-ying and Henry Tang were inviting 10,000 people out to wine and dine on public expenses, and that this was unfair and irresponsible when neither appeared to want to run for chief executive. when Tang showed his intention to run, she stepped back and said Tang was an acceptable candidate. However, when the extramarital affair of Henry Tang was exposed, Fan withdrew her support for him. By the time the survey was completed with the 1000 sample, Leung led Tang by an 8.9% point margin. but denied that he interfered with the poll. Zhao Xinshu took on the blame, and explained that the early announcement was to avoid losing media coverage to the
Republic of China presidential election. The school denied having any political stance. Zhao resigned from the school dean position, but retained his teaching post. Zhao may face further investigation by the
ICAC.
Leung Chun-ying's conflict of interest allegations In an exclusive in early 2012,
East Week magazine said Leung was one of 10 judges in the 2001 concept planning competition for the
West Kowloon Cultural District despite his company acting as a consultant for one of the competitors. Upon questioning following the press report, he reiterated: "There was no business relationship, or conflict of interest. I have already reported the case to the jury committee chairman and government bodies ... One quantity surveyor under a particular professional team asked our company about related comments and information on land prices in West Kowloon. But we did not take any money in return." The contestant in question, Malaysian company LWK & Partners, named
DTZ Holdings – Leung's company – as a "consultant" in its competition entry. Leung said that he immediately questioned his staff upon learning about it, and had in fact written an explanatory letter to the jury upon being aware. As the row continued, the government generated further controversy on 8 February when it issued two statements, one explaining the failure of candidate Leung to declare a possible conflict of interest in the West Kowloon Reclamation Concept Plan Competition, and other that cleared Henry Tang Ying-yen of any conflict of interest relating to his decision to lower wine duties when he was financial secretary. A government spokesman insisted it was impartial in issuing the two statements. However,
Asia Sentinel suggested the selective leak of such allegations by the government who then refused to make public all the documents relating to the issue as requested by Leung himself was a smear originating from the Tang camp.
Illegal structures at Henry Tang's home – Henry Tang's residence – following revelations of illegal structures there."As a man, one needs to have shoulders and as a public officer, one needs to have backbone," – Henry Tang, 13 February 2012 (statement in response to press alleged illegal structures at his properties) Following media allegations of illegal structures at the
Kowloon Tong residence of the leading contender, Tang admitted on 13 February that there was an unauthorised structure at his home at No
5A York Road in the form of a
canopy above the garage. He also said that there was already an underground garage at his family's adjacent property (7 York Road) at the time of purchase, which had since been deepened "for storage". He said it was not used as a wine cellar. On 15 February, Chinese-language newspaper
Sharp Daily published a set of floor plans purporting to be of the 2,400-square-foot illegal basement at one of Tang's properties comprising a store room, fitness room, changing room, cinema and wine-tasting room dating from 2003. Tang said the drawing "does not match. [The basement] is basically used for storage." The Buildings Department said that the property was inspected on 22 January 2007, and no unauthorised structures were found. Experts believe that the secret basement standing larger than the footprint of the house was no afterthought: engineers have largely discounted the possibility of building such a large underground structure after completion of the main house. The filed building plan showed foundation piles were driven five metres deep, enough space to harbour at least one storey underground. A media and political circus gathered in York Road as inspectors made a site visit on 16 February: media hired building cranes to gain vantage over the property;
Leung Kwok Hung led a protest outside Tang's residence. In a press conference, Tang's wife took responsibility for the illegal basement facility. Tang refused media requests to tour the house. He said: "An illegal structure is an illegal structure. It doesn't matter what the facilities inside are." Tang was widely criticised for hiding behind his wife, and was then under pressure to quit the race. In a poll conducted on 16 and 17 February by the University of Hong Kong on behalf of the
South China Morning Post, 51.3% of those polled said Tang should withdraw. Opposition to Tang was 23.5 percentage points higher one week later. Commentators observed that Tang's self-inflicted damage has embarrassed Beijing and made it lose control of the election process.
Accusation of "black gold politics" Leung Chun-ying was suspected of being involved with "
black gold politics" after the March 2012 issue of
East Week reported that his supporter,
Lew Mon-hung (), and his campaign officers met with
Rural committee members and a
Triad member over a dinner at
Lau Fau Shan. Attendees from different camps gave different accounts, especially of the appearance of Kwok Wing-hung, nicknamed "Shanghai Boy", who has known associations with
Wo Shing Wo. Denying any personal connections with Leung, however, Kwok claimed he met Henry Tang in Tokyo, Japan in 2002 and held a few photos of him. Tang then lodged a complaint to the police, stating that he felt threatened by Kwok's comments. The case is under
ICAC and
police investigation.
Alleged protocol breach Henry Tang's claims during the televised debate on 16 March about what was said during "high-level meetings" set off a storm. During later interviews, he elaborated on the situations where the remarks attributed to Leung Chun-ying were heard. Tang said that the disclosures were made because of the public's right to know, but that the disclosures were impromptu as he was angered by Leung's mention of the sofa in Tang's office allegedly used in
Tang's extra-marital affairs. Five former Exco members stated that they had not heard, or did not remember hearing Leung making such remarks during ExCo meetings. Tang was widely criticised, by pro-Beijing figures, for breaching the confidentiality rule: Chairman of the DAB, Tam Yiu-chung, said no-one had the right to breach confidentiality rule of ExeCo, for whatever reason.
Regina Ip, responsible for the legislation of Article 23, questioned the accuracy and appropriateness of Tang's disclosures, saying that she had "no recollection" that such a comment was made. She also criticised Tang for breaching the confidentiality rule, even should his claim be true. Former Secretary for the Civil Service
Joseph Wong also said Tang should be condemned but "Tang [must] justify the breach based on the principle of public interest" Senior politician and former Secretary of Justice
Elsie Leung rebuked Tang, saying: "The CE election should be conducted in a fair, open and just manner ... If the rule is not properly observed and protected, no one will be willing to join the government or say anything during internal meetings in future." Leung added that "running for the CE is not an excuse to breach this important rule.
James Tien, whose resignation from the ExCo forced the government to withdraw the Article 23 bill, said that the confidentiality rule should not be overridden by public interest, otherwise "the government should just make all Exco meetings public". Pan-democrat politicians urged the government to go public on the facts because the public had the right to know what went on. The
South China Morning Post cites a reliable source that Beijing was "surprised and disappointed" by Tang's violation of a basic principle, and that his chances were over from that moment. In March 2012, former underground communist Florence Leung (梁慕嫻), launched her memoir ''My Time in Hong Kong's Underground Communist Party'' (我與香港地下黨), in which she pointed out Leung Chun-ying had to have been an underground communist in 1985 in order for him to have become the Secretary General of the
Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee, according to party protocol. She also cited Leung's vague remarks about the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre as a clue to his membership. According to the
South China Morning Post, Leung's campaign office said Leung was "not a Chinese Communist Party member and had never requested or been invited to join the party."
Allegations of interference in political reporting Local press has been avidly reporting on efforts of the
central government's Liaison Office to rally support behind Leung, but said reports have been creating discomfort for officials. Albert Ho relayed complaints he has received about Liaison Office attempts to intimidate editors and media bosses. Media widely reported that
Richard Li had received calls from CLO propaganda chief Hao Tiechuan () dissatisfied at the reporting at his
Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ). Ho said the CLO's actions were creating "an atmosphere of terror" in the territory. The Hong Kong Journalists Association, which noted that the
HKEJ had received complaints about its coverage from central government's liaison office, and condemned the "open violation" of the one-country two-systems principle. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has confirmed these allegations and expressed its concern. The IFJ cites an anonymous senior journalist for a Hong Kong newspaper saying that the Liaison Office had called several times "during the last two weeks" criticising the newspaper for alleging that the CLO had attempted to influence EC members; One publisher who is member of the EC also reportedly received calls from the Liaison Office with coded references to the preferred candidate: in line with the shift in reported preference from Tang to Leung, he said that initial emphasis was on 'experience' and 'temperament', but later switched to 'popularity'. Local media reported that pundit Johnny Lau, who wrote a critique of both Tang and Leung for the
Sing Pao Daily News, complained that the journal turned his article into one favouring Leung. Lau said that his intended piece was entitled "Neither Tang nor Leung is worthy of support". In the piece, he opined that "supporting either party would not be conducive to the situation", but the published version read: "If there is really a need to make a choice, then, let's choose Mr Leung Chun-ying." Lau alleges that his conclusion was similarly distorted: "neither Mr Tang nor Mr Leung is worthy of support. They do not deserve sympathy either" was changed to read: "Mr Tang is not worthy of support. Nor does he deserve sympathy." Ngai Kai-kwong, editor-in-chief of
Sing Pao said: "the editing might have been too carelessly done." He said the paper had neither exercised censorship, nor had come under pressure from the central government's liaison office. == Newspaper endorsements ==