Surreal estate: Hong Kong's property sector and white-collar crime discourse: y Yujing Fun.

Abstract

It has been claimed by some that Hong Kong, the world’s freest economy, is

without corruption or other kinds of white-collar crime. Statistical sources suggest

that these crimes are indeed rare in the city. This study examined those claims by

looking at the practices of Hong Kong’s real estate industry, specifically through the

lens of a case study on 39 Conduit Road. The property development known as 39

Conduit Road became the centre of controversy in June 2010 when the developer,

Henderson Land, was accused of market manipulation. The study found that many

common practices in the real estate industry, such as intimidation and deception,

could constitute an abuse of power by real estate developers. The abuse of power,

especially when done in the course of an occupation, is a fundamental part of the

sociological discourse of white-collar crime. The study concluded therefore that it

was not that white-collar crime did not exist in Hong Kong but more that these

behaviours were structurally rendered invisible. The study located the failure to

observe these abuses in the city’s power structure where the local government used

its economic policy of laissez faire to turn issues into non-issues, and in its legal

culture where ambiguity in the law was construed as a right to act.