My TakeOn CY Leung’s case, Democrats are hypocrites

By putting undue pressure on the justice department to prosecute the former Hong Kong leader over allegations that he accepted improper payments, the opposition camp is challenging some of our core values

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The Democratic party has launched a campaign to search for incriminating evidence against former Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying for allegedly accepting HK$50 million from Australian engineering firm UGL after he took office. Photo: David Wong

Published: 12:12am, 12 Apr 2018Updated: 12:12am, 12 Apr 2018

We don’t have all the details about former chief executive Leung Chun-ying’s receipt of HK$50 million from Australian engineering firm UGL after he took office. We probably won’t ever get them unless he is put on trial.

But whether he has breached any law and warrants being charged should be a matter entirely up to the Department of Justice and the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

That’s what the rule of law is all about, but apparently not so with the Democratic Party or its lawmaker, Lam Cheuk-ting.

The party has launched a crowdfunding campaign to bankroll an international investigation into the matter. It is hoping to raise HK$2 million to hire lawyers and accountants to search for incriminating evidence.

CY Leung defiant as Democratic Party launches campaign to finance inquiry

Lam and his party colleagues have also filed legal advice to prosecutors urging them to charge Leung. Isn’t that putting improper pressure on independent prosecutors?

In our online age, you may call it justice by crowdfunding. But there is a traditional term for that: mob lynching.