Democratic Party chief raps police investigation into organisers of Dragon and Lion Dance Extravaganza
Investigation into organisers of Dragon and Lion Dance Extravaganza dropped after a year
The police have ended an investigation into suspected fraud involving the organisers of the annual Dragon and Lion Dance Extravaganza due to insufficient evidence, a Democratic Party member who launched the complaint said yesterday.
"I questioned whether the police paid sufficient attention to such an important case," he said.
In April last year, the Audit Commission criticised the government's Mega Events Fund for overstating the turnout at events it funded and other irregularities - including cases of organisers not providing invoices for expenses. The organiser of the extravaganza - one of the events criticised - was granted HK$1.5million by the fund, which claimed that at least 3,100 paid jobs would be created.
The organiser later reported that only 1,850 jobs had been created and the watchdog found that at least 410 of the jobs were for primary school and kindergarten pupils - whose tasks could not be considered a job.
Lam, who lodged the complaint last May, said: "I am angry that in such a fraud case, police did not take a statement from me and closed the file after a year."
The Democratic Party member also questioned how the Independent Commission Against Corruption handled his complaint about payments made to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying by engineering firm UGL.
Lam, a former ICAC investigator, said graft-busters had not taken a statement from him since he filed the case last October.
"According to the training guidelines, ICAC officers should take statements as soon as possible to obtain the most accurate information," he said.
A police spokesman said it would review the case in light of any new evidence.
