Legco demands four ousted lawmakers in oath-taking saga return up to HK$3.1 million each
Bills will be backdated to their first day in office despite them working for nine months before Hong Kong’s High Court stripped them of their seats on July 14
The ex-lawmakers protested the move, saying it was equivalent to “political persecution” as the bills would be backdated to their first day in office – October 1 last year – despite them carrying out their work for nine months before Hong Kong’s High Court stripped them of their seats on July 14.
At a press conference on Monday, Nathan Law Kwun-chung, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, Lau Siu-lai and Edward Yiu Chung-yim argued that their participation in Legco votes and meetings meant their salaries and allowances in the months preceding the court’s decision should not be clawed back.
Court ruling disqualifying Hong Kong lawmakers over oath-taking controversy ‘a declaration of war’
Now 24 and the city’s youngest-ever lawmaker until he was disqualified, Law added: “The decision is totally ridiculous and unacceptable, as the four of us had worked hard for the electorate for months.”
On Monday, Legco President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen confirmed that the voting records of the four ousted legislators would still be deemed legitimate.
But, “considering legal advice that public money is involved, it is the [Legco] Commission’s duty to recover the funds,” Andrew Leung said, adding that the amounts to be recovered from each person ranged from HK$2.7 million to HK$3.1 million.
He said the four would have a “reasonable time frame” of four weeks to respond to Legco’s legal demand, after which Legco would consider its next move.