Donald Tsang granted bail

The High Court on Monday granted former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen cash bail of HK$100,000 ($12,900) after he had served two months of his 20-month jail term following a misconduct conviction.

Tsang was forbidden to leave Hong Kong pending his appeal against the conviction and sentence. He was not required to report to the police in the meantime.

The High Court did not reveal the date for the appeal case.

Tsang, with his hair having turned significantly grey, spoke to media when he left the court building in Admiralty on Monday afternoon. He made no comment on his case but expressed gratitude to the public, various religious groups and former colleagues who had given him encouragement and support.

He also appreciated officers of Hong Kong Correctional Services. He said the officers’ impartial and professional work had convinced him that Hong Kong is governed by law.

Tsang, the highest-ranking person in the city’s history to be convicted and sentenced for misconduct, stayed calm when Justice Wally Yeung Chun-kuen approved his bail application.

months

prison term for Donald Tsang on one count of misconduct in public office

Tsang’s wife, Selina Tsang Pou Siu-mei, said before the court case that Tsang’s health condition had remained unstable. It was better for him to stay out of the prison, she said.

Tsang reported suffering breathing problems while serving in Stanley Prison. He was sent to the Queen Mary Hospital on March 13 and stayed in the custodial ward until he was transferred to the High Court on Monday morning.

The 72-year-old former leader was convicted in February on one count of misconduct in public office for failing to declare a conflict of interest when he approved a radio broadcast license application from local broadcaster Wave Media between January 2010 and June 2012.

At that time Tsang was negotiating a lease on a three-story penthouse in Shenzhen, where he intended to live after retirement, with the broadcaster’s major stakeholder Bill Wong Cho-bau.

Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai, who sentenced Tsang to a 20-month prison term, stressed that the severity of the conviction lay in Tsang’s position as the city’s former leader, adding the “breach of trust was an important and significant aspect in his criminality”.

Tsang also faces a retrial on a bribery charge as the nine-strong jury failed to reach a verdict. He was accused of accepting an advantage from Wong — a HK$3.5 million renovation of the penthouse, allegedly at the request of Tsang’s family.

The trial, scheduled on Sept 26, is expected to last 25 days.