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Leung Chun-ying (CY Leung)
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Lawmaker Kenneth Leung (centre) and fellow pan-democrats holding a press conference on Monday. Photo: David Wong

Shut up and stay away, pan-dems warn Hong Kong’s leader over fee probe row

Group of 26 also defend lawmaker Kenneth Leung, who has vowed to stay on panel amid his public spat with city’s top official

Hong Kong’s leader must stop intervening in a probe into his financial dealings with an Australian firm and retract his comments on the matter, pan-democratic lawmakers said on Monday.
Accusing the city’s top official of abusing his power, 26 pan-democrats issued a statement to “seriously condemn” Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and set out plans for an impeachment motion against him as early as June 7.
The motion was released late Monday and read: “Contempt of the Legislative Council by improperly intervening with the affairs of the Select Committee of this Council in dereliction of his constitutional duty under Articles 47, 60(1) and 64 of the Basic Law.”

The group also defended lawmaker Kenneth Leung, who has vowed to stay on the investigative panel despite the chief executive repeatedly pressing him to quit the probe as he was facing a defamation suit by the leader over the payment controversy.

The row centres on a Legco investigation into Leung’s receipt of HK$50 million from Australian firm UGL. The fee followed UGL’s 2011 purchase of DTZ, an insolvent property company of which Leung was a director before he took the city’s top job in 2012. Leung received the payment after his election, but he did not declare it to his cabinet.

A Legco select committee was set up last year to investigate the case at the request of pan-democrats.

Lawmaker Kenneth Leung has vowed to stay on the panel investigating the city’s leader. Photo: David Wong

The city’s leader came under fire after it was revealed on Monday last week that he had discreetly engaged pro-establishment lawmaker Holden Chow Ho-ding to amend a document on the scope and direction of the probe. Chow later resigned from the committee but Leung insisted as the subject of the investigation, he had a “complete right” to express his views to Legco.

Flanked by other pan-democrats on Monday, Kenneth Leung said he would continue his role as a member of the UGL committee “under the sun and with the supervision of all citizens of Hong Kong and do it well”.

He has ignored the separation of powers, challenging the independence of Legco
pan-democrats’ statement on CY Leung

He said he would not respond further given the lawsuit.

The pan-democrats’ statement read: “The establishment and operation of the select committee are internal affairs of the Legislative Council. The chief executive [has no power in this], and should not interfere. Leung Chun-ying’s comments showed that he has ignored the separation of powers, challenging the independence of Legco.”

Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok said if the city’s leader’s thought he could affect the panel’s work “through these threatening ways, you are totally wrong”.

“Your near crazy act just makes people think that you are so afraid of being investigated, and you have something to hide.”

In response, the chief executive defended himself for the eighth time in six days and accused Kenneth Leung of ignoring his questions regarding the payment.

Hong Kong’s top official Leung Chun-ying accused Kenneth Leung of ignoring his questions about the payment. Photo: Simon Song

“Facing the groundless accusations and abuses of the investigations, every Hongkonger has the right to defend his or her reputation, and a government official is no exception,” Leung wrote in his blog on Monday.

Independent lawmaker Paul Tse Wai-chun, the select committee chairman, said it was “inappropriate” for the chief executive to have contacted Chow directly and called on him to testify before the panel if he wanted to argue his case.

Tse did not think the committee’s credibility would be affected if Kenneth Leung stayed and that members could decide for themselves whether to stay or quit. But he said he did not want to see more resignations.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Pan-dems accuse city leader of abusing his power
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