Leung says he didn't know competition entrant had attached his company's name

Chief Executive hopeful Leung Chun-ying has elaborated on his earlier denial of any conflict of interest, over the West Kowloon reclamation concept plan competition 10 years ago. He told reporters on Thursday that as a member of the competition jury he had no knowledge of who the participants were, and added that responsibility falls on the competition entrants anyway.

Leung's comments came one day after the government released a statement, in which it said Leung had failed to make any declaration of a conflict of interest in the competition held in 2002. The conflict of interest led to the disqualification of an entry submitted by LWK & Partners, an architectural firm. LWK had named DTZ, of which Leung is a shareholder and managing director, as property advisor.

"The onus is on the participants in the competition to check whether he had such relationship with any member of the jury," stressed Leung. He claimed that it was not the responsibility of jury members since they didn't know who the participants were in the first place.

Leung said there were 161 anonymous participants in the competition, making it impossible for the jury to check. That's why the rules didn't require the jury to check for possible conflicts of interest.

Leung said he first learned of the controversy when John Tsang, now the finance secretary and who was in charge of the competition, called him. Leung said at that time the jury panel had finished voting.

Leung questioned why the secretariat of the competition, which was responsible for screening the applications of participants to see whether they were eligible or not, didn't learn of the apparent conflict earlier.

Moments before Leung's comments, Raymond Young, the permanent secretary for home affairs, held a press conference. He said anyone who might have had relations with the companies in a competition for a West Kowloon reclamation concept plan should not have taken part in the contest, according to the rule of competition. That was why the judge had disqualified LWK & Partners.

"Due to the very late receipt of interest declaration forms, which also did not disclose the names of the companies in the competition, it was discovered that one company had a relationship with one of the competition judges just before the final result was announced," added Young.

Leung said he took the initiative to make the declaration after he was told of the circumstances.

In response to questions about why didn't he take legal action against LWK & Partners, Leung said the company had been disqualified by the panel, which was already a consequence.

Leung stressed that DTZ didn't receive any money from LWK & Partners for inquires about the land value in West Kowloon, and said the companies were not business partners.

LWK & Partners, which also issued a statement on Thursday, said it did not get in touch with DTZ about the competition affairs and did not invite DTZ to act as its advisor.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 02/10/2012 page1)