The Legislative Council yesterday decided against punishing political bigwig Lau Wong-fat despite finding he had breached a house rule requiring members to declare their personal interests.
The lawmaking body said Lau - who sits on both the Legislative and the Executive Councils - had 'fallen short of public expectations of a lawmaker', according to a report released yesterday by a seven-member Legco committee investigating the powerful Heung Yee Kuk chairman.
But the report ruled against taking any action to punish Lau, apart from referring complaints against him to Exco for its own consideration.
Legco received 68 complaints against Lau after media reported that he had failed to disclose his stakes in many land and commercial projects. Lau later disclosed his stakes in four companies that he had not declared to Legco. He also added 390 plots of lands to his property-registration list submitted to Exco.
Lau refused to meet the Legco committee investigating him, only sending them a letter and saying that the omission was an unintentional oversight - an explanation which the committee accepted.
Paul Chan Mo-po, who chaired the investigation, said the committee decided against imposing any sanctions against Lau after taking into account the absence of previous cases and any evidence showing he had deliberately concealed the information.
