HK ex-official appears in court over housing fraud

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's former Development Minister Mak Chai-kwong and Highways Department Assistant Director Tsang King-man Thursday appeared in court over an alleged housing allowance fraud.

Mak and Tsang were charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Wednesday with conspiracy to defraud the government of private tenancy allowances between June 8, 1985 and December 31, 1990, during which they allegedly cheated benefits worth more than 700,000 HK dollars (about 90,310 U.S. dollars) by concealing that they had financial and proprietary interest in flats they rent from each other's wives.

The two appeared in Eastern Magistracy on Thursday and the case was transferred to District Court where a hearing will be held on November 6. They have been released on a 50,000 HK dollars bail.

Mak was appointed the Secretary for Development in June and took office on July 1. He resigned on July 12 following his arrest by the ICAC. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.751 HK dollars)