Hong Kong Occupy leader Benny Tai allowed to respond to charge that he mishandled donations

Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting will be given an opportunity to respond to the findings of an inquiry that said he mishandled donations to the University of Hong Kong, its governing body has decided.

The HKU council met on Tuesday to follow up on a review report submitted by its audit committee last week.

That committee, acting on a complaint, conducted a review of Tai's acceptance and use of HK$1.45 million in donations in 2013 and last year, some of which were used for Occupy Centralrelated projects.

Council chairman Dr Leong Che-hung said after the meeting that the discussions were confidential and the council hoped the matter would end as soon as possible. The council will decide later whether to release its findings.

The donation saga, which followed the hacking and leaking of Tai's emails and those of others to the media, has been seen as a political attack on Tai.

The review report noted that Tai hired Shirry Heung, a research assistant, to work for a project in the school of humanities and paid her salary with part of the donation. But the project was later shelved and Tai seconded her to work for the HKU public opinion programme, which steered a citywide vote on universal suffrage.