Occupy leaders refuse to reveal who donated HK$1.3m that co-founder passed to HKU
Occupy Central last night declined to reveal the source of HK$1.3 million in donations that movement co-founder Reverend Chu Yiu-ming passed on to fellow organiser Benny Tai Yiu-ting.
Occupy Central last night declined to reveal the source of HK$1.3 million in donations that movement co-founder Reverend Chu Yiu-ming passed on to fellow organiser Benny Tai Yiu-ting.
At Chu's request, Tai gave all the money to the university where he works, to cover some of the expenses it incurred on Occupy's "civil referendum" and other activities, the movement said.
Earlier in the day, leaked emails suggested that it was Tai who had received the donations over several months from at least one anonymous donor. But Occupy said it was actually Chu who had received at least HK$1.3 million from "a member of the public" in support of his "efforts in promoting democracy".
Three cheques - for HK$800,000, HK$300,000 and HK$200,000 - were then passed on to Tai, who donated the money to the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme, the law faculty and the school of humanities as anonymous donations. Tai is an associate professor of law at the university.
Occupy said that Chu had donated anonymously a further HK$150,000 that was raised at his birthday dinner to support the university's research assistants. The leaked emails showed that Tai had received a HK$150,000 donation in February this year to pay his research assistant's salary. Yesterday he confirmed that the donor was Chu.
Occupy's statement did not identify the "member of the public" or how much he or she gave.