Police to probe Legco building 'lift pranks' during quorum call

A police report has been made about possible interference with lifts in the Legislative Council building that may have delayed lawmakers returning to the chamber for quorum calls.

Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said the Legco Commission asked the secretariat to take the case to police after videos showed several people pressing all the lift buttons on eight occasions on April 25 when quorums were called during a debate on the budget.

At least half of the 70 lawmakers have to return to the chamber within 15 minutes after the bell rings for a quorum call or the meeting will be aborted.

"From the video, we believe some people interfered with the operation of the lifts to obstruct legislators going into the chamber for a meeting," Tsang said after a talk with commission members. "The actions apparently infringed section 19 of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, so we decided to report it to police."

He said at least five lawmakers were delayed although the debate was not aborted. None of the commission members opposed making a police report, he said.

None of the suspects were juveniles, he said, but declined to identify them further so as not to affect the criminal investigation.

On April 25, lawmaker Wong Ting-kwong said he believed an assistant of radical lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung and "three youngsters" had used a lift before pro-establishment lawmakers Gary Chan Hak-kan and Yiu Si-wing entered it.

Leung, a driving force behind the filibustering, said he did not know who was involved. The police said they would "investigate the case fairly and thoroughly". No arrest had been made as of last night. Central district crime officers are investigating.