Leung Chun-ying–UGL agreement
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In October 2014, it was reported that Leung Chun-ying, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, had signed an agreement in 2011 with UGL, an Australian engineering firm, in relation to its takeover of DTZ, a UK-listed real estate services company in which Leung was the director of the company. In agreement, UGL undertook to pay Leung £4 million (HK$50 million) in two instalments in 2012 and 2013 respectively, subject to specific conditions. As these payments concurred with the term of office of Leung Chun-ying as Chief Executive between 2012 and 2017, it has aroused concerns of the public in respect of the nature of payment, potential conflict of interests, relevant systems of declaration of interests and taxation implications.[1]
The UGL case was under investigation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for an unusual four-year long period from 2014 to 2018. In July 2016, Rebecca Li Bo-lan, the acting head of the Operations Department of ICAC resigned after the cessation of the acting appointment in which such unusual change raised public concern. It was speculated it might be related to the UGL case as Li was reportedly its principal investigator. In November 2016, a select committee to inquire into the UGL incident was set up in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). In May 2017, it was revealed that Holden Chow, vice-chairman of the select committee, had privately discussed with the Chief Executive about the UGL case in which Leung "made suggestions about the scope" of the investigation. It raised public concern over Leung's interference into the investigation.