Legco ban on photocopying files of Hong Kong immigration chief’s curious 1996 exit is ridiculous, former Government Records Service director says
- More than 20 years after Legco inquiry into mysterious sacking of Laurence Leung, documents on the episode have finally been released, but a block on the public making photocopies is strange and unwarranted, ex-director of official records Simon Chu says
A former director of Hong Kong’s Government Records Service has slammed as ridiculous a ban on the public photocopying government papers in files which detail the mysterious departure of an immigration chief in 1996.
The official documents were released earlier this month more than four years after the Post filed a request for access. They were first submitted by the government more than 20 years ago to a select committee at the city’s legislature looking into the abrupt sacking of Laurence Leung Ming-yin, who left the job amid questions about his personal finances.
When a Post reporter viewed the 11 unclassified files at the Legislative Council Archives on February 4, a member of staff said photocopying must be handled by them. Visitors were only allowed to take notes, and photocopying of newspaper clippings referring to the select committee hearings on the episode was also not permitted.
The ban was aimed at avoiding any infringement of copyright, the staff said.
But Simon Chu Fook-keung, a former director of the Government Records Service, called the restriction unusual and said staff were being overly cautious.