You're playing politics, Hong Kong chief secretary tells pan-democrats as their anti-bribery motion is defeated in Legco
As Legco defeats motion to treat chief executive same as other officials, Carrie Lam says pan-dems playing politics before November 22 polls
The Legislative Council yesterday voted down a motion calling to amend the anti-bribery law to make it a criminal offence for the chief executive to solicit or accept any advantage without the permission of a statutory independent committee.
Shortly before the vote, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor suggested that the amendment could not be done because it involved constitutional issues and might "not fit the chief executive's constitutional role" for him to be required to seek permission before accepting an advantage.
She also accused the Democratic Party of tabling the motion "to attack the chief executive as part of the party's election campaign" for the district council poll on November 22.
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"I believe residents can see this clearly and vote for pragmatic councillors who recognise what is right and criticise what is wrong," she said.
The motion was tabled by Democrat Helena Wong Pik-wan, who said the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance should be amended as soon as possible as three years had passed since a committee led by former chief justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang recommended that it be a criminal offence if the chief executive solicited or accepted any advantage without a statutory independent committee's permission.
At present, at least two sections of the ordinance did not cover the chief executive.
Li's committee formed after then chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was accused of receiving favours from his tycoon friends, and Leung Chun-ying, then chief executive-designate, pledged to implement the recommendations as soon as possible. Tsang was charged last month with two counts of misconduct in public office for failing to declare some of his interests when he was chief executive.