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Professor Peter Mathieson says education secretary was reasonable in repeatedly requesting investigation of Occupy co-founder. Photo: David Wong

HKU head defends Education Bureau's calls for investigation into Occupy co-founder Benny Tai

Professor Peter Mathieson says education secretary was reasonable in repeatedly requesting investigation of Occupy co-founder

University of Hong Kong vice chancellor Professor Peter Mathieson yesterday broke his silence to defend the education minister's alleged interference in the institution's operations.

He said it was reasonable for Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim to urge HKU to investigate assistant professor and Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting over Tai's controversial handling of donations.

Tai, meanwhile, said guidelines for the management of donations to the school were not clear nor accessible enough.

Speaking after a meeting of the HKU Council to discuss an inquiry report on those donations, Mathieson dismissed recent criticism of Ng, who admitted last week he had repeatedly written to the HKU council, urging it to probe Tai.

"We are a publicly funded university. We are responsible for the public funding and the government obviously is a source of the funding," Mathieson said, adding it was "perfectly reasonable" for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's administration to take an interest in the issue.

Ng said he had called on the university to investigate Tai after it emerged that Tai had accepted in 2013 and last year HK$1.45 million donations to the school, some of which were used for Occupy-related projects.

Ng's behaviour has drawn severe criticism from lawmakers and an HKU council member, who say the official has put unnecessary pressure on the institution and eroded its autonomy.

Another HKU council member, Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, who is also on the Executive Council, joined Mathieson in defending Ng, saying the minister was free to express his views.

The council was unable to decide last night whether a disciplinary hearing should be called for Tai and other HKU scholars involved in the donations scandal, based on findings of a final inquiry report released to members at the meeting.

The inquiry was conducted by the council's audit committee, comprised of senior professionals outside HKU, after last year's hack into the emails of Tai and others revealed the problematic handling of donations. The hack, and subsequent leak to the media, was widely seen as a political attack on the Occupy leader.

Mathieson said some council members had asked for more time to digest the material before jumping to any judgment.

The audit committee has pointed out the responsibilities of several HKU employees in the issue, including Tai, former law dean Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun and Dr Robert Chung Ting-yiu, the director of HKU's public opinion programme, which assisted in an Occupy referendum.

The full report of more than 100 pages includes more than 60 pages of rebuttal from those employees.

Tai, who was said to have deviated from the stated purpose of the donations, said that the donation guidelines were too vague and not accessible enough.

Chan, who was accused of failing to give timely notice to HKU management about the identity of the donors, asked what exactly a middleman like him, who only passed on the donation, was supposed to do under the rules.

When asked if the school would be susceptible to government pressure in its handling of Tai's case, council chairman Dr Leong Che-hung said: "HKU stresses academic freedom and institution's autonomy." But he added, "as a public organisation it should at least address public concerns."

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: HKU head backs calls for probe into Benny Tai
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