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Hong Kong district council election
Hong KongLaw and Crime

Waiter accuses Democratic Party of corrupt offerings during last year’s District Council elections

Cheng Wing Kin, on trial for eight counts of corrupt conduct, says he was commissioned by mainland official when he found links between the pan-democrats and localist party, Youngspiration

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Cheng Wing-kin(right), appears at Wan Chai Court in July. Photo: Edward Wong
SCMP Reporter

The Democratic Party has dismissed allegations of corruption brought against it by a waiter claiming to have been working on behalf of a mainland official.

Cheng Wing-kin, a self-proclaimed government ­supporter on trial for corrupt conduct, told the District Court yesterday that the Democratic Party offered localist group Youngspiration some HK$800,000 to not run in the same districts during last year’s District Council elections.

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He claimed that Leos Lee Man-ho, from Cheung Sha Wan Community Establishment Power, had revealed the offer between the two parties to him while Cheng was researching a TV show.

Cheng said he had pitched the TV show, aimed at examining the connection between the then emerging localist camps and the pan-democrats, to an investor named “Mr Li” – claimed to be from the Beijing’s United Front Work Department.

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During the process, the waiter said he suspected a close link ­between the Democratic Party and Youngspiration.

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