Ousted Hong Kong lawmaker ‘Long Hair’ Leung Kwok-hung in Legco legal action for full salary and expenses totalling HK$2.75 million after he ignored deal
Legislature cannot be a ‘paper tiger’, its president says
The Hong Kong legislature has decided to take legal action against ousted lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung to recover his full salary and expenses totalling HK$2.75 million (US$350,300) after he ignored an earlier compromise to return part of the sum.
Andrew Leung said the Legco Commission, responsible for the body’s administrative matters, had decided to take Leung to court after a meeting on Monday.
“The decision is very simple. We offered a solution to settle, and we gave a deadline,” he said, adding that the ousted lawmaker “did not even respond” and that it was “up to the commission to decide what to do next”.
Two other disqualified lawmakers – Lau and Yiu – had already returned part of the funds, HK$310,000 each, he noted. Law had pledged to return the amount by the deadline.
The Legco president also dismissed allegations that the commission was ignoring the government’s earlier advice: that the bill could be written off by the legislature if it failed to recover the money.
“If we do nothing, that means from now on all the commission’s decisions will only be a paper tiger,” he said. “We have no choice but to seek legal action to recover all the money.”
But Leung Kwok-hung on Monday said the commission’s decision had left him in shock and that he should not be required to return the money as his appeal against the court decision disqualifying him was still pending.
“Are you saying that I would definitely lose? If I paid up now, but I ended up winning the appeal, then what?”
Civic Party lawmaker and commission member Dennis Kwok described the decision as “irrational and ruthless”. He accused the commission’s pro-establishment members of making a political decision.
Kwok, a barrister, argued it should only take legal action after Leung settles his appeal, arguing the ex-lawmaker could apply for an interim injunction against Legco’s legal bid and could secure a court’s approval.
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The commission found it unwise and a waste of taxpayers’ money to spend tens of millions of dollars demanding a full refund.
He also reminded all Legco members such conduct was illegal and that he would not rule out notifying police if staff members were injured.
In response, Au accused the commission of becoming a political tool of the pro-establishment camp and attacking pan-democrats, while Fan feared Legco would invite police to suppress lawmakers.