TELEPHONES were never bugged for political purposes, the Government said.
All interception was ''wholly within the parameters of the law'', said acting Secretary for Security, Ken Woodhouse.
The Governor would only authorise interception to prevent or detect serious crime including corruption, or to monitor threats to security, he said in reply to Christine Loh Kung-wai.
Several legislators asked whether political or social leaders, who might be seen as a potential threat to security, had ever been bugged.
And independent Emily Lau Wai-hing asked whether the Government considered the Communist Party a threat to security and intercepted its telephone messages.
Mr Woodhouse, though accepting that internal political problems could threaten security, did not respond.
He merely reiterated that the Government had never bugged telephones for political reasons.