Case of top civil servant reflects need for integrity
- Former aviation official faces up to seven years in jail after failing to declare conflict of interest in property deal with businesswoman who was also his lover
Public confidence in the government is invariably undermined when the conduct of top officials is called into question. This was the case when former civil service high-flyer Wilson Fung Wing-yip landed in the dock for a property deal between his wife and a tycoon’s sister-in-law with whom he had an affair.
The court accepted that he and businesswoman Cheyenne Chan Ung-iok were in love at the time and cleared them of accepting and offering an advantage respectively. But his failure to declare a conflict of interest was deemed to be misconduct in public office.
Details of their relationship helped clear the pair of bribery, but they do not alter the fact that they should have been more sensitive to the potential conflict of interest.
The scandal emerged in 2016 when Fung’s wife, also a top civil servant, was accused of gaining an unfair advantage when swapping flats with Chan’s company. The District Court heard Fung, a former deputy secretary in charge of aviation, accepted a HK$510,000 deposit from Chan in 2004, but did not declare it to the government while handling applications from Chan’s companies, Helicopters Hong Kong, HK Express and Heli Express.
Helicopter dates and love money: how official and high-flying lover came to trial
The case has undoubtedly damaged Fung’s public service credentials. He was described in court as a competent public servant by district judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong, who also criticised him for pocketing the deposit out of greed and initially lying about not knowing Chan’s background.
The failure to declare an interest may have stemmed from Fung’s worries that his extramarital affair would come to light. His private life was arguably of no concern to the public unless it brought the government into disrepute.
But, by flouting rules in place to guard against a conflict of interest in public office, the veteran civil servant breached public trust and has to pay the price. Next month he will be sentenced for an offence that carries up to seven years’ imprisonment.
Adherence to the highest standard of conduct should be the first and foremost duty of public servants, because the integrity of the civil service as a whole is at risk if they fail to do so.
