Hong Kong’s corruption watchdog is launching a criminal investigation of its former chief who spent tens of thousands of dollars on gifts for mainland Chinese officials.
The anticorruption agency, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and the Department of Justice said that there were significant reasons to start this investigation into allegations of possible bribery and misconduct by Timothy Tong.
Tong was a commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption from 2007 to 2012. He came under fire after reports emerged he spent about 218,500 Hong Kong dollars, which is USD 28,150 on gifts ranging from pens to crystal models of the agency’s headquarters.
It should be noted that the scandal adds to fears about the integrity of public officials in the semiautonomous Chinese territory, which prides itself on clean government.
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