The city’s anti-corruption agency, facing turmoil at the top, has postponed its annual staff dinner on Friday after most of the workers who had signed up pulled out. The mass snub was an apparent reaction to the removal of former acting head of the organisation’s powerful investigative unit Rebecca Li Bo-lan. On Wednesday night a spokesman said the staff club of the Independent Commission Against Corruption would select another date for the annual dinner after speaking to members. He did not say how many staff members had planned to drop out. ICAC at risk of losing its independence Lam Cheuk-ting, a former ICAC investigator – who is standing for the Democratic Party in September’s Legislative Council elections – said he was told most of the agency’s staff who signed up for the annual event had changed their mind. The dinner, planned to take place at the agency’s staff canteen at its North Point headquarters, charged several hundred dollars per head, said Lam, who served at the agency from 2007 to 2011. And he had never heard of a postponement or cancellation of an annual dinner due to too few guests. “They have expressed anger over the decision [to remove Li],” Lam said. “They definitely do not agree with the handling for such a reputable long-serving officer.” CY Leung insists he did not take any part in decision-making to remove Rebecca Li “And this was a vote of no confidence in [ICAC commissioner] Simon Peh Yun-lu,” Lam said. And Lam said he expected more action from the agency’s staff. The mood at the agency is in stark contrast to last year’s dinner, at the opening of which Peh and Li and other senior staff led guests in a sing-song. Turmoil at the agency intensified on Tuesday with the resignation of a senior investigator just days after Li’s removal. The departure of long-serving principal investigator Dale Ko – also without any meaningful official explanation – sparked calls for a special Legislative Council probe and raised fears that the reputation of the four-decades-old law enforcement body could be damaged beyond repair.