Hong Kong leader defends disclosure system for senior officials after predecessor named in Pandora Papers leak
- Interests that must be registered are clearly spelled out and filings are available to the public, Carrie Lam notes
- But ultimately, the government relies on an honour system, she says when asked about media allegations against Leung Chun-ying
But Leung strongly rejected the claim in a series of Facebook posts, insisting the law only required he declare shares he held directly and not ones owned through subsidiary companies. He accused Stand News of either being “ignorant” of the law or driven by “ulterior motives”. Leung was Hong Kong’s leader between 2012 and 2017.
While Lam said she would not comment on individual cases, she defended the strength of the city’s disclosure requirements for senior public officials.
“We have a very robust declaration of interests system, both applicable to Executive Council members as well as principal officials, and these interests are disclosed to the public for inspection under what we call an annual declaration of registrable interests,” she said.
