Lawmakers slam CY's Beijing call for 'breaching confidentiality'
Lawmakers slam chief executive for violating confidentiality principle by informing Beijing of plan to introduce property-cooling measure
Lawmakers are accusing Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying of breaching the Executive Council's confidentiality principle by notifying a Beijing official a day before he announced a new property tax.
The Civic Party's Ronny Tong Ka-wah said he had written to the Legislative Council's constitutional affairs panel: "The issue raised questions about the confidentiality principle and [the] "one country, two systems" [policy]. I hope Leung and others will come to the panel and address our doubts."
His move came after Leung yesterday admitted to having informed Wang Guangya, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director, of the buyer's stamp duty against non-local flat buyers the night before it was introduced in October.
The 15 per cent tax was to deter non-locals, including mainlanders, and corporate buyers from the property market.
In his letter to panel chairman Tam Yiu-chung, Tong asked whether Leung had similarly informed Beijing officials before launching other policies, and if so, what the criteria were for the alert mechanism.
He wrote: "Will this move become a precedent? Will [Leung] promise he will not inform the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office [of the Executive Council's [discussions] again, in order to uphold the "one country, two systems and "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" [policies]?"
The Liberal Party's James Tien Pei-chun said it had been appropriate for Leung to inform Wang because mainland buyers had a large market share in Hong Kong.