Donald Tsang, the former Hong Kong leader, has been charged with misconduct.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the city's antigraft agency has charged Tsang on two counts of misconduct in public office, which makes the 70-year-old former leader to be the most senior official ever arrested.

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Tsang served seven years as Hong Kong's chief executive - former British colonial administration's senior official and former financial secretary. He stepped down in July 2012 when his term ended that year. His approval ratings at the time though tumbled down.

On Oct. 5, Monday, his being charged with misconduct on two counts is the latest string of scandals that resulted to ensnaring former political and senior business figures in the Asian financial hub.

The charges, according to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, were related to the nomination of an architect doing a design work on the flat for a government award and a rental deal for a penthouse flat in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Tsang's alleged lavish spending on overseas duty visits as well as allegations of taking trips with tycoons by private jet and luxury yacht and accepting a rental deal for the Shenzhen flat have earned him public resentment. 

 

If convicted, he would be facing up to 14 years of imprisonment for the two cases. However, he said that his conscience is clear and has every confidence that the court will exonerate him.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that his wife accompanied him during his appearance at court, and she said that she was truly disheartened as she and her husband are harassed daily for the past few years.

Tsang appeared at the well-publicized National Day reception in Hong Kong on Oct. 1, Thursday, less than a week before the charges came. He was standing in the front row of dignitaries, and he also went recently to Beijing to attend a military parade.

TagsDonald Chang, Misconduct, Independent Commission Against Corruption, British colony, Donald Tsang