Hong Kong lawmakers who failed to disclose donations from media tycoon cleared of wrongdoing
Two pan-democratic lawmakers who failed to declare HK$2 million in cash donations from founder were not in breach of rules, says Legco committee
Two pan-democratic lawmakers did not breach the Legislative Council’s rules on political donations when they failed to disclose HK$2 million they received from media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, a committee has ruled.
After months of investigation, the committee voted 4-3 on both the cases of “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung and former Labour Party chairman Lee Cheuk-yan, striking down an assertion that they had broken the rules that govern declarations of donations.
The Committee on Members’ Interests concluded that Lee and Leung, who accepted HK$1.5 million and HK$500,000 from Lai respectively, received the sums only on their behalf of their parties rather than in the capacity as legislators. Therefore their failure to register the donation record with Legco were not an issue, it ruled.
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Committee chairman Ip Kwok-him told the council meeting this morning that the committee had initially voted 3-3 on both cases. “As the votes were equally divided, the chairman exercised his casting vote to vote against the question in accordance with the rules.”
The committee started the probe after receiving 15 complaints from the public and pro-government lawmakers in July and August 2014—in the run up to Occupy Movement. At that time, bank records of Lai depositing money to Lee and Leung were leaked to the press.
In both cases, the tycoon put the names of Lee and Leung, rather than their parties, on his bank cashier orders as the recipients.
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According to a report released today, Lai had testified to the committee that it was his assistant Mark Simon who arranged for the cashier orders and he had no idea why the latter chose to put the lawmakers’ names. But the committee decided not to invite Simon to give evidence after a vote.
Lee, who kept the first sum of HK$500,000 in his personal account for eight months before transferring to his party’s, denied obtaining personal gains with the money through means such as making investments. He provided a copy of the monthly portfolio summaries of his bank account to prove that.
Leung, meanwhile, transferred the sum of HK$500,000 to his colleague in the League of Social Democrats, who was a lawyer, to finance lawsuits that involved another party member.
READ MORE: Apple Daily head Jimmy Lai donated millions to pan-democrats, leaked files show
Leung produced to the committee a “certificate” issued by his party treasurer to prove the sum was donated to the party. However, while the certificate was dated 6 August 2014, it was found that the party only held a meeting on 11 August to issue that certificate.
Leung and party treasurer John Tsui were unable to explain the timeline of events, saying they only acted on instructions of the party’s executive committee.
