Bugged out: HKU council member accused of placing recording device inside his thermos

A man was asked to spill the contents of his thermos for a government-appointed HKU council member who accused him of attempting to bug the contentious meeting.

Dr Cheung Kie-chung said he was accused of installing a listening device in his mug during the session in Wan Chai on Tuesday.

Fears of audio leaks have dogged the council since several recordings of confidential information from meetings were leaked last October.

Cheung, a council member who represents teaching staff, detailed the row in a post on his personal Facebook page at about midnight on Tuesday.

“Today, after handing in my mobile phone, someone asked me why I had brought this stainless steel thermos mug along every time,” he said in the post.

“[I was asked] ‘didn’t the organisers provide beverages?’ ‘Is this thermos mug a wiretap?’”

Student representative Billy Fung Jing-en, who was kicked out of the same meeting, shared Cheung’s post and added: “The questioner was Leonie Ki Man-fung”, referring to a government-appointed council member.