LEGISLATION enacting Hong Kong's last two budgets plus the preliminary stages of Governor Chris Patten's political reforms may be invalid because of a major constitutional blunder, the Sunday Morning Post can reveal.
It has emerged that changes allowing John Swaine to replace the Governor as President of the Legislative Council last year did not complete the process of becoming law until seven weeks after his election.
As a result the validity of up to 125 Hong Kong laws, including the sensitive electoral reforms that form the basis of Mr Patten's on-going row with Beijing, has been questioned by legal experts.
The Hong Kong Government and the Foreign Office yesterday denied there was any reason for such doubts, but constitutional experts warned that the unprecedented situation had potentially devastating consequences.
A clerical error in the Foreign Office meant the necessary amendments to the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions had not undergone essential parts of the process of becoming law, understood to include being signed by the Queen, before they were gazetted in Hong Kong on February 18 and 19, 1993. Mr Swaine was elected President on February 19.
Constitutional experts said this suggested the gazettal - and Mr Swaine's subsequent election - were invalid. Since the amendments only come into effect when properly gazetted, that would mean they are still not in force.
