Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has been accused of using a public broadcasting review to gag RTHK in an attempt to please Beijing ahead of his expected re-election next year.
But the broadside, by outspoken legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing, was swiftly dismissed as the 'usual conspiracy theory' by the government.
The future of RTHK's editorial independence has been called into question after former TVB news chief Raymond Roy Wong was appointed by the chief executive to head a seven-member panel to review public broadcasting.
Speaking on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong, The Frontier legislator said Mr Wong had been mooted as a possible candidate to replace RTHK chief Chu Pui-hing in 2004, when Tung Chee-hwa was still in office.
Describing Mr Wong's appointment as a bombshell, Ms Lau said none of the review committee members were experts on public broadcasting.
She said a government paper explaining the review last week only mentioned social cohesion and national identity as some of the objectives of public broadcasting. There was no reference to editorial independence.
