Graft-busting agency ICAC launches criminal inquiry into its former boss
Graft-busting agency will probe allegations of misuse of public funds and misconduct against its own previous chief Timothy Tong Hin-ming
The city's anti-graft agency said last night it will launch a corruption investigation into its former chief Timothy Tong Hin-ming.
He becomes the first head of the graft-busting agency to face a criminal probe in the Independent Commission Against Corruption's 39-year history.
The inquiry was announced by the Department of Justice and the ICAC. The commission said the probe would be led by Tong's successor Simon Peh Yun-lu.
The move follows claims that Tong, 63 - head of the ICAC from 2007 until last year - spent lavish sums of public money entertaining mainland officials.
It is alleged he splashed out hundreds of thousands of dollars from the public purse on receptions, gifts and duty visits.
Some of the spending exceeded official limits but was approved by Tong himself.
The announcement of the criminal inquiry came after Tong and Peh agreed to appear before the Legislative Council's Public Accounts Committee on Saturday. The hearing is due to focus mainly on two lavish dinners Tong approved for mainland officials in 2011. The dinners, revealed in audit report last month, were said to have exceeded the permitted budget.
