Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai 'loves' his employer the University of Hong Kong too much to challenge it in court
Legal scholar decides against fighting triple penalties imposed on him by governing council
Out of his "love" for the University of Hong Kong, Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting has made up his mind not to haul his employer to court for acting on "ulterior political motives" to punish him over donations.
Tai, an associate law professor, faces a three-year ban imposed by HKU's governing council, forbidding him from hiring researchers, receiving donations and assuming managerial posts.
The triple penalties, which Tai first received word of more than a month ago, were "illegal, irrational and procedurally improper", according to a strongly worded letter he wrote to council chairman Leong Che-hung.
Those decisions were to "punish" him for initiating the Occupy pro-democracy movement last year that resulted in 79 days of mass sit-ins, he said.
"I write not as an application for review by the council … I have reasonable suspicion that the council has been politically infiltrated," Tai wrote in the letter, which he passed to the South China Morning Post. "I believe any request to review its own politically tainted decisions will not receive any impartial and fair treatment by the council."