Old Fart's BMW copied by other Asian politicians

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Regarding the Nassim Jade saga in which FamiLEE and their relatives were given preferential discounts for their multi-million $ property purchases, Old Fart blamed his wife, Gecko, for being greedy.

Old Fart's BMW has been copied by other Asian politicians. To the best of my knowledge, disgraced Taiwanese politician, Chen Sui-bian, was the first non-Sinkie to copy BMW from Old Fart.



Hong Kong’s BMWS (‘Blame My Wife’ politicians)
Leaders embroiled in scandals derided for using their spouses as the fall guys

by Li Xueying, The Sunday Times, 11 August 2013, page 18

There is a new BMW in town, and it’s not a piece of shiny steel.

The acronym stands for “Blame My Wife” instead – a cheeky reference to politicians in Hong Kong who try to wriggle out of controversies by way of their spouses.

There are at least four BMW models in the city, with the latest being the beleaguered Development Secretary Paul Chan, now entangled in a conflict of interest controversy.

Revelations tumbled out in recent weeks – even as he was striving to push through a controversial project to redevelop the New Territories – that he had bought a 15,000 sq ft parcel of farmland in 1994. It purportedly could fetch up to HK$17 million (S$2.8 million), 50 times the original price, in government compensation if the redevelopment plan succeeds.

A red-faced Mr Chan explained that the land was actually owned by his wife. She sold her stake to her younger brother last October when Mr Chan realised he was taking charge of the project.

“I had no beneficial interest in the company which is owned by my wife and her family,” he said, an assertion that later drew howls of derision when it emerged that one of these family members was their son.

Mr Chan was not the first to deploy this strategy.

Former chief secretary and wine aficionado Henry Tang, who contested the Chief Executive elections last year, was Hong Kong’s pioneer BMW model when he blamed his wife for the illegal building of a 2,400 sq ft basement, which housed a wine cellar, a Japanese bath and a gym, at their villa in Kowloon Tong.

“It was my wife’s idea and I knew they were illegal,” he said then, as his tearful spouse Lisa Kuo fell on the sword in front of flashing cameras, saying: “This is my sole doing.” Last month, she pleaded guilty in court to building illegal structures.

Hot on Mr Tang’s wheels, sorry, heels, was former chief executive Donald Tsang. In fighting accusations that he was moving into a luxury penthouse in Shenzhen on the cheap thanks to ties with a mainland tycoon, he said he wanted some distance from Hong Kong politics.

The leader should have stopped there. Instead, he added that another reason was that his wife has lots of clothes. “She even keeps her clothes from before we were married,” he lamented.

The duo were followed by former property analyst and executive councillor Franklin Lam, accused of using insider information to sell two flats ahead of new stamp duties last year.

His zippy defence: He never saw the provisional agreements for the sale of the flats because the transaction was handled by – that’s right – his wife. He was cleared of the suspicions last month but chose to resign from his post.

To be fair, the mocking BMW label is an easy one to use – and abuse. Some Hong Kong media, for instance, seized on Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying as a “BMW” case over his illegal structures fracas last year – even though he did not actually blame his wife for what happened.

But the latest episode involving Mr Chan has drawn attention to a deeper issue of Hong Kong’s system of declaration of interests for top officials.

Despite the commotion, Mr Chan technically did not breach any rules as he is not required to declare his wife’s or his wife’s family’s interests.

Mr Leung also confirmed that he was verbally informed when Mrs Chan sold the land to her brother.

But in Hong Kong’s climate today where distrust of the government has plunged to a low, it could not shake off the credibility crisis. Many queried if the transaction was a bona fide one, while wondering how Mr Leung had arrived at the conclusion that there was no conflict of interest.

Responding to the pressure, the government last week unveiled new guidelines that significantly widened the scope of accounting.

Ministers now have to report to the Chief Executive when there is a conflict of interest between their public duties and their “private interests” – including those of a minister’s family or other relations, clubs and associations, “people with whom he has personal or social ties” and “any person to whom he owes a favour”.

In other words, BMW – and its iterations – as a tactic will no longer work.

This more stringent requirement puts Hong Kong on a par with – and even above – Taiwan and countries like the United States and India.

There remain some grey areas, though, with some arguing that the declaration should be made public or at least be in written form.

Another question mark is over where one draws the line among friends and acquaintances in deciding that there may be a conflict of interest.

On the other side of the coin, there are concerns over whether such rules may deter individuals from joining the government, for fear of the privacy of family and friends being compromised.

For barrister Stephen Char, a former chief investigator of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the priority is clear.

“In the public’s mind, it does not matter whether it is your land or your wife’s land.

“The issue of integrity is not just about the actual conflict of interest, but potential as well as perceived.”


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