Landowners built illegal private garden in Hong Kong – and for 20 years the government did nothing

The Lands Department contributed to “appalling and unacceptable” delays in a case that stretched more than 20 years over illegal use of public land by landowners in the New Territories, Hong Kong’s Ombudsman said on Tuesday. For more than two decades, an illegally built “private garden” complex and village house was expanded. Land officials were aware of this but had failed to act until 2014, the watchdog found. The saga began in 1995 with a New Territories...