Former Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang has been charged with two counts of misconduct in a public office by the city’s anti-corruption watchdog, reports said today.

After three years of investigation, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has formally charged Tsang in connection with his failure to file conflict of interest declarations to the Executive Council, Radio Television Hong Kong reported.

He was due in court this afternoon.

In February 2012, as Tsang was finishing his last term, he came under scrutiny after allegations surfaced that he had accepted inappropriate favours from the city’s tycoons.

He admitted he had been on two holiday trips on private jets and two on yachts provided by business friends, but insisted there was no conflict of interest and that he had paid for the trips.

Adding fuel to the fire was the revelation that his penthouse retirement home in Shenzhen was going to be rented at a below market price from mainland tycoon Bill Wong, a major investor in the Digital Broadcasting Corporation, which was then applying for a radio license from Tsang’s Executive Council.

Misconduct in a public office carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

- dpa