Yu Man-hon inquiry followed principles of natural justice

We refer to Albert Cheng's article headlined 'Positions in Man-hon case fail to add up' (South China Morning Post, July 26) about the disciplinary hearings in the case of missing autistic teenager Yu Man-hon, [who slipped through the border checkpoint at Lowu last year and is still missing].

In response to public concern over this incident and to uphold public confidence in the integrity of the civil-service disciplinary mechanism, we issued a public statement on July 27 disclosing in summary the facts brought forward in the disciplinary hearings.

Shortly before the hearings were held, one of the officers involved resigned from the service, by paying one month's salary in lieu of notice, and forfeited all his accrued benefits. The disciplinary proceedings against him were discontinued while those against the other three officers involved continued. To ensure fairness and justice, independent inquiry officers were appointed to conduct the hearings.

The officers, who conducted the inquiries separately, came to their individual conclusions based on the evidence presented. Legal advice confirmed the proceedings in the three hearings were in order and that the findings were supported by evidence presented at the hearings.

We set out in the public statement the main arguments presented at the disciplinary hearings and the findings of the inquiries. We hope the statement has addressed the points raised in Mr Cheng's article. Although it would not be appropriate for me to comment further on the disciplinary hearings or the incident itself, I would like to assure the public and Mr Cheng of the importance the administration attaches to upholding the effectiveness and fairness of this disciplinary mechanism. The principles of natural justice, including the rule against bias and the right to a fair hearing, apply. Each case of alleged misconduct is examined independently.

Among the 111 cases of alleged misconduct completed by the Secretariat of Civil Service Discipline since its establishment in April last year, 102 cases were substantiated and appropriate punishments imposed. Regarding the small number of cases where allegations of misconduct were not substantiated, we have to respect the findings.