Hong Kong’s former leader pleads not guilty over graft

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s former leader Donald Tsang, who ended his term in disgrace after accepting favors from tycoons, pleaded not guilty to bribery charges on Tuesday at his high-profile corruption trial. Tsang, 72, held the leadership post of chief executive for seven years from 2005 and is the highest-ranking Hong Kong official to face a corruption trial. The case is set to send shock waves through a city that has earned a reputation as one of the world’s most open and transparent markets. Wearing his customary suit and bow-tie, a somber-looking Tsang arrived hand-in-hand with his wife at the city’s High Court over an hour before the hearing was scheduled to begin on Tuesday morning. He pleaded “not guilty” to three charges of misconduct and bribery. Each charge carries a maximum jail sentence of seven years. The charges pertain to the period when Tsang was chief executive. He is accused of failing to disclose his plans to lease a luxury penthouse in the neighboring city of Shenzhen from a major investor in a broadcaster — which at the time was seeking a license from the Hong Kong government. Tsang allegedly approved the company’s application for the license, and also failed to declare that an architect he proposed for a government award had been employed as an interior designer on the flat. The hearing is expected to last 20 days. He has previously said that he had “every confidence” he would be exonerated. In 2012 he apologized for separate allegations that he accepted inappropriate gifts from business friends in the form of trips on luxury yachts and private jets. The trial comes at a time when residents are losing faith in Hong Kong’s leaders, as a string of high-profile corruption cases fuel public suspicions over cozy links between authorities and business leaders. Critics blame the city’s method of electing its leader — who is selected by a 1,200-strong electoral committee made up of representatives of special interest groups weighted toward Beijing. “I strongly believe that the chief executive has to (maintain) close relations with special interest groups and tycoons,” pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting said.