No checks done before Mak Chai-kwong got housing subsidy, court hears

Two administrators had approved the housing subsidy applications by former development minister Mak Chai-kwong and assistant highways director Tsang King-man without verifying the property ownerships, the District Court heard yesterday.

Luk Ming, the retired senior executive officer who administered the private tenancy allowance scheme for civil servants in the 1980s, said the civil service regulations at the time were not as elaborate as they became after they were amended in 1999 to prevent abuse.

"Before the amendment, we would not verify the owner of the company [in the case of an applicant renting a flat owned by a company], or whether the flat is held in trust," Luk said under cross-examination by Mak's lawyer Eric Kwok Tung-ming SC.

Lau Sui-pun, who worked under Luk and handled the pair's applications, said she took all application forms at face value and did not verify the information, including the ownership of the flats for which rental allowance was requested. No land search was conducted, she added.

The civil service regulations stated that a civil servant who applied for a housing allowance was not permitted to lease a property that he, his spouse or their relatives owned or had a financial interest in.

Mak, 62, and Tsang, 57, are accused of defrauding the government of HK$700,000 by using two properties in which they had a financial interest to claim rental allowances between 1985 and 1990. Mak also faces two counts, and Tsang three counts, of using documents with intent to deceive the government.