Kicked out: Pro-Hong Kong government campaigner expelled from Justice Alliance for allegedly taking HK$1 million
Chairwoman Leticia Lee has been at the forefront of campaigns in support of Beijing and the Leung Chun-ying administration
The head of a self-styled pro-government political party has been ousted amid a financial dispute in which she was accused of taking some HK$1 million from the alliance and some members.
Justice Alliance vice-chairman Tsoi Hak-kin said on Wednesday they had stripped Leticia Lee See-yin of her chairmanship and membership, with immediate effect.
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Some 20 members showed up at a press conference to announce the news.
They claimed Lee had taken away their donations to the party, totalling some HK$220,000, which should have been deposited in its account, while Lee also allegedly borrowed more than HK$800,000 from some members in the past two years without paying them back.
Tsoi said they had reported the case to police last month.
Their accusations could not be verified independently.
Lee on Wednesday denied Tsoi’s allegations and said she was planning a press conference as early as Thursday to give her side of the story.
The row has brewed since last month when Tsoi and some members accused Lee of keeping the account book to herself and called on her to explain the party’s financial status.
Justice Alliance is a loosely-organised group first formed by Lee during the 2014 Occupy protests to show support for the government’s handling of the activists and its reform package for the 2017 chief executive election.
Lee turned it into a political party last August. She chaired the new party and positioned it as a “party of action” that would open up a “third road” in Hong Kong’s highly polarised political scene.
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Lee is known for her support of the Beijing and Leung Chun-ying governments. She also opposes the pan-democrats. She made a name for herself in 2011 when she led a parents’ group to protest against Jimmy Lai’s racy free tabloid Sharp Daily, which folded in 2013. The tycoon is known for his anti-Beijing stance.
Lee led another parents’ group in 2012 in a campaign to support the government’s controversial plan to launch national education in schools.
Under a separate banner, the Alliance in Support of Our Police Force, she led a march from Tsim Sha Tsui to Mong Kok last week to support police handling of the Mong Kok riot and called on the force to bring all “rioters” to justice.
