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