HKU split over whether Benny Tai should be disciplined for breaching donation guidelines

The University of Hong Kong was split yesterday on whether its employee Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a co-founder of the Occupy Central movement, should face a disciplinary hearing over HK$1.45 million in donations he received.

The HKU Council, the university's governing body, had received an internal report that said Tai, an associate law professor, did not follow guidelines regarding donations.

The donations saga, which followed the hacking and leaking of emails involving Tai and others to the media last year, continues amid concerns about political interference in the university and pressure on the Occupy leader.

Yesterday, the council met to discuss a report submitted by its audit committee, which had conducted a review of Tai's acceptance and use of the donations in 2013 and last year, some of which were used for Occupy Central-related projects.

After three hours of deliberation, council chairman Dr Leong Che-hung announced that the report was not yet final.

"The council accepted the report as an interim one," said Leong. "We asked the audit committee to submit a final one."

A source familiar with the situation told the Post the council wanted a more specific report. "Some council members wanted the audit committee to name who is to blame [for not following guidelines]," the source said. At least one of those members is a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference member.