Hong Kong Audit Commission head brushes off accusations body targeted Chinese University, says it scrutinises all use of public money

The head of Hong Kong’s Audit Commission has brushed off accusations it deliberately targeted the Chinese University in its latest investigation, saying the body scrutinises all use of public money regardless of the institution involved.

Nelson Lam Chi-yuen, the director of audit, on Saturday did not rule out looking into other tertiary education institutions in the future, noting the commission was tasked with carrying out value-for-money reviews of all organisations that received public funds.

“The coverage of our scrutiny is all-encompassing, touching on every institution about its use of every dollar,” he said. “When the situation warrants, we will look into the use of public money in every aspect. The scrutiny covers all universities and tertiary institutions.”

The commission head was responding to accusations that the auditor had singled out Chinese University for scrutiny in its latest auditing exercise.

Lam said the auditor had conducted checks on other tertiary education institutions, adding that full audits would look into every aspect of legal compliance, which included the national security law.

“People may not have seen us audit only one single university [previously],” he said. “But in future, the chances are we will look into all other universities for every dollar they receive from the government. We’ll also see if the institution concerned has complied with the law, including the national security law.”

Released this week, the audit report was the latest addition to a turbulent year for the publicly funded university and came just weeks after the legislature’s passing of a controversial bill shaking up its governing council.