Leung, but resigned 12 days later in response of allegations of corruption in the 1980s, making him the shortest-serving cabinet minister in the history of Hong Kong.
In 2000, he became principal government engineer, which put him in charge of development projects in eastern New Territories, Tseung Kwan O, Sha Tin and Ma On Shan.
Mak returned from retirement in July 2012 when he was appointed Secretary for Development in the inaugural government line-up of Chief Executive CY Leung.
[3] Revelations immediately surfaced about a cross-leasing scam in which Mak allegedly fraudulently claimed housing allowance for five years from 1985, while a civil servant.
[5][6] On 17 October, Mak was formally charged, jointly with assistant highways director Tsang King-man, with conspiring to defraud the government, to the personal benefit of HK$445,000.