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Man-hon findings released after public outcry over cleared officers

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The Civil Service Bureau yesterday took the rare step of releasing a summary of a report that cleared their officers of any blame in the case of missing autistic boy Yu Man-hon.

The report was released after an outcry against the decision to clear the officers of blame.

The three immigration officers who wrongly sent Man-hon over the border to Shenzhen last year did exercise due diligence and reasonable care, their disciplinary inquiry report said.

Man-hon, now 16 but with a mental age of two, ran away from his mother on August 24 and slipped through the border at Lowu. Mainland officers returned him to the SAR side, but when an attempt to verify his identity failed, he was released in Shenzhen and has been missing since.

His parents were last night sent a copy of the report, which carries findings that contradict an Immigration Department investigation. The department had said four officers should be held responsible for the case, citing a failure to seek professional help to communicate with mentally handicapped people as required by guidelines.

One of the officers was a Lowu channel supervisor who was accused of failing to report and record the fact a teenager had dashed through a checkpoint after being told by colleagues. He has since resigned and an inquiry into his actions has ceased.

The other officers are a senior immigration officer and a chief immigration officer, who both made the decision to send Man-hon back to Shenzhen, and an immigration officer who examined Man-hon to try to verify if he was from Hong Kong.

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