Jake's View | Too busy? Teresa Cheng’s book says it’s not a defence
The new justice secretary, at the centre of an illegal structure scandal at her home, should have heeded the lessons on construction law on which she had written a book
“I understand that the public would have higher expectations of our senior officials. I also understand that it might not be good enough to say [that] such overlooking is due to being too busy … I hope councillors can be more tolerant.”
Chief Executive
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor,
SCMP, January 12
Let me contribute another instance of why it might not be good enough for our newly appointed justice minister, Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, to offer the lame excuse of “being too busy” to notice extensive illegal structures in her home.
On the website of British legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell is a promotion of a new book – Construction Law and Practice in Hong Kong, Third Edition. It is an update from a previous edition in 2012.
The blurb for it tells us that in Hong Kong “ … there continues to be demand for a relevant and useful publication about construction law” and that this one “informs readers about all aspects of construction law and incorporates new developments in the law”.
First on the list of the two authors is, yes, you guessed it, Teresa Cheng, Senior Counsel, Des Voeux Chambers.
I have not bought a copy. They want HK$3,020 for one. But a friend has let me peek into his copy of the 2004 edition and it deals comprehensively with what constitutes unauthorised building works and the culpability of the builders and owners of such properties.
Illegal structures is a political bomb, not insensitivity
