Hong Kong’s ex-Chief Executive Donald Tsang has been sentenced to 20 months in jail for misconduct.

Donald Tsang led Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012 and is the most senior official in the territory ever to stand trial for corruption.

He was found guilty last week of misconduct in public office, in a case related to a luxury flat in China.

In sentencing, Judge Andrew Chan said: “Never in my judicial career have I seen a man fall from so high.”

A number of senior former officials in Hong Kong had written letters to the court in defense of Donald Tsang’s character.

Image source Wikipedia

Judge Chan said he took Donald Tsang’s reputation and long public service into account in sentencing, taking 10 months off what would have been a 30-month sentence. The maximum penalty could have been 7 years.

Donald Tsang was cleared last week of a second count of misconduct, while the jury failed to reach a verdict on a third charge of accepting an advantage. He is expected to be retried on that charge in September.

After sentencing, Donald Tsang was taken from court in handcuffs to the hospital where he has been staying since experiencing chest pain on February 20.

The case has worried a territory that prides itself on its relatively clean reputation.

The trial related to events which took place near the end of Donald Tsang’s term, between 2010 and 2012.

Prosecutors accused Donald Tsang of inappropriate and undeclared conflicts of interest, including renting a luxury flat in mainland China from the shareholder of a broadcast company whose license applications he approved. They also alleged the flat was redecorated free of charge and that he later nominated the interior designer for an honor.

The jury found the former leader guilty of misconduct over his failure to disclose the lease of the flat, but dismissed the charge related to the designer and did not reach a verdict on whether he accepted a bribe in the form of the refurbishment.

A career civil servant, Donald Tsang rose through the ranks to become Hong Kong’s second chief executive, following Tung Chee-hwa.

Donald Tsang’s deputy, former Chief Secretary Rafael Hui, was jailed for accepting bribes from a property tycoon in 2014.