Hong Kong leader CY Leung accuses lawmaker on panel probing HK$50m payment of prejudice

Chief executive accuses Kenneth Leung of failing to declare defamation suit, while legislator Holden Chow faces a motion to eject him from Legco

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Leung Chun-ying confirmedon Tuesday on Tuesday he had “made suggestions about the scope” regarding of the Legislative Council probe into the HK$50 million he received from Australian engineering firm UGL. Photo: David Wong

Published: 2:15pm, 17 May 2017Updated: 1:02pm, 23 May 2017

The political storm over Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s intervention in a Legislative Council probe into his past business dealings snowballed on Wednesday when he demanded a key opponent withdraw from the investigation for holding conflicting interests.

Oppostion pan-democrats, meanwhile, were planning action to disqualify a pro-government lawmaker who helped Leung to get involved behind the scenes, while the rival camp mulled a move to disband the inquiry committee and pick new members.

Lawmaker Holden Chow (centre) has drawn fire for his actions relating to the probe. Photo: Dickson Lee

While the pan-democratic camp will seek to kick Chow out of Legco by tabling a condemnation motion on Friday, Leung questioned the credibility of Kenneth Leung, the legislator he is suing for allegedly defaming him over the UGL controversy.

Speaking before he flew to Beijing, the chief executive accused Kenneth Leung of being prejudiced against him and said that as a defendant in the defamation case he was under a “direct and major” conflict of interest by discussing the scope of the probe.

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