Several Hong Kong lawmakers omit unpaid directorships in Legco declarations

Several newly elected Hong Kong lawmakers have not fully disclosed their unpaid directorships and those held at subsidiaries, the Post has found, prompting calls from the legislature’s House committee chairman for greater transparency.Andrew Yao Cho-fai and Lothair Lam Ming-fung were among the Legislative Council newcomers who did not register dozens of unpaid directorships, according to a Post check on their declarations of interest, which were cross-referenced with Companies Registry records.Under current Legco guidelines, lawmakers are only required to declare paid directorships, while unpaid roles are typically listed under a discretionary category labelled “other interests”.A Post check found that Yao, representing the commercial (second) functional constituency and serving as chairman of Hong Kong Shanghai Alliance Holdings Limited, did not register his directorships in at least 34 companies and bodies. These included seven companies within the Man Shun Cheong group, spanning both the architectural and investment sectors.What he declared was five paid directorships, including serving as an external director of China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited and as an independent non-executive director of China Railway Signal & Communication Corporation Limited.Yao said his current declaration complied with Legco requirements and pledged to disclose the list of directorships at subsidiary firms shortly for public transparency.