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Admission refutes 'six allegations' finding

The report on the Equal Opportunities Commission found that none of those at a late-night meeting in 2003 saw the so-called 'six allegations' against Anna Wu Hung-yuk - despite a public admission by one that he had.

EOC member Raymond Wu Wai-yung told the South China Morning Post on November 13, 2003, that the list of allegations against former chairwoman Ms Wu began with a telephone conversation with an undisclosed person, to whom he dictated an account of 'problems with EOC operations'.

He told the Post that he asked this person to draft a written statement, which later wound up being published in Eastweek magazine as the 'six allegations'. Dr Wu went as far as to say the statement was read in the presence of Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping.

It has been suggested that senior officials were involved in the drafting of the allegations against Ms Wu, long a thorn in the government's side.

The day after his interview with the Post, Dr Wu said in the Legislative Council that he 'just thought the document could help the incoming chairman improve the EOC' and that 'it was based on my observations and media reports'.

But yesterday's report said that 'judging by the level of details in the article on 'six allegations', it would not have been possible for anyone present at the gathering to have drafted such an article.

'According to information available to us, no drafting was conducted during any of the gatherings ... None of the five relevant individuals had seen or read any document containing the so-called 'six allegations' before the publication of the article in Eastweek.

'[Dr Ho] and his [Home Affairs Bureau] colleagues had checked with all the staff within [the bureau] who had dealings with the EOC, and ascertained that no document was drafted by anyone from [the bureau] as alleged.'

Yesterday's report contained a detailed account of the meetings on November 4 and 5, 2003, when the allegations were said to have been drafted. According to its findings, Dr Ho and Executive Councillor Andrew Liao Cheung-sing were absent when former chairman Michael Wong Kin-chow and Dr Wu discussed EOC matters. EOC member Priscilla Wong Pui-sze was the meetings' fifth attendee.

Ho Hei-wah, of the Society for Community Organisation, said the report's account of the meetings relied entirely on the claims of those suspected of wrongdoing.

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