Fanny Law talks to the ICAC about 'that' dinner
The campaign director of chief executive candidate Leung Chun-ying went to the police and the ICAC last night to explain what happened at a dinner that was at the centre of a storm over triad threats.
Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, who is also a former ICAC commissioner, said she volunteered as a witness to the anti-graft watchdog to give information about the dinner held last month in Lau Fau Shan. She said the police had opened a file based on her information.
'The event has led to seriously misleading and untrue comments being made,' she said outside the Independent Commission Against Corruption headquarters in North Point last night.
'Our campaign office has voluntarily contacted the ICAC and police as a witness to provide solid facts and urged for an early completion to the investigations. Neither Leung Chun-ying nor his campaign staff knew Kwok Wing-hung. Nor do we have any relations with triad-linked people.' She was referring to Kwok, a businessman also known by his nickname 'Shanghai Boy', whose attendance at the February 10 dinner at a seafood restaurant sparked the row.
Allegations following the dinner have been linked to triad threats reportedly made against rival candidate Henry Tang Ying-yen, who called police on Friday.
Also at the dinner were Law, her two deputies Kaizer Lau Ping-cheung and Karen Tang Shuk-tak, as well as a Leung supporter, Lew Mon-hung. All sides have distanced themselves from the dinner and denied having invited Kwok. As a result, it is now unclear who organised it.
'We had no idea about who the guests were and how many would attend the dinner when we showed up,' Law said last night.
Earlier in the day, Heung Yee Kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat and vice-chairman Daniel Lam Wai-keung denied having arranged the dinner. Neither man was at the dinner, but both of them admitted Kwok was an acquaintance. 'I didn't arrange [the dinner],' said Lau, who was in Beijing for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
'All are brothers in the four seas,' he said, using a Chinese expression that roughly means everyone is a friend. 'No one will write on his forehead that he is a gangster. I won't reject a request for taking photographs together from anyone.'
Kwok could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Lew, a Leung supporter and CPPCC member, yesterday claimed Lam, the kuk vice-chairman, arranged the dinner. Lam denied this.
Meanwhile, Tang vowed last night there would be no more scandals involving him. 'I don't think there are any more skeletons in my closet,' he told ATV, referring to revelations about an illegal basement in his wife's Kowloon Tong home and his extramarital affair.
'I think as far as I am concerned, the main thing is that after you have made a mistake there is the courage to admit it and move on, and tell yourself not to make the same mistake again,' he said.
Tang said his relationship with his wife, Lisa Kuo Yu-chin, 'emerged stronger' than in the past. Speaking in the same interview, Kuo said her husband should lead Hong Kong.
'I honestly believe his heart is with the people of Hong Kong,' she said. 'He has a heart that will be caring, genuine, without lie or pretence. He is very, very human.'
