‘We won’t put important work on hold,’ Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says in face of legal challenge against extradition plan by fugitive tycoon Joseph Lau

Chief executive doubles down on controversial legislative amendments, claiming they are ‘in the public interest’

Joseph Lau, who argues the plan is unconstitutional, was jailed in absentia by a Macau court in 2014 over a massive bribes-for-land scandal

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Carrie Lam doubles down on her administration’s stance over the controversial extradition bill. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 11:59am, 2 Apr 2019Updated: 4:31pm, 4 Apr 2019

Hong Kong’s leader has stood firm against a legal challenge by a fugitive tycoon over a controversial extradition plan, reiterating her stance on pushing ahead with the proposal.

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was addressing a bombshell judicial review lodged by the billionaire Joseph Lau Luen-hung. Lau is opposing a government move to allow the transfer of fugitives on a case-by-case basis to jurisdictions that the city has no agreement with, such as mainland China, Macau or Taiwan.

“As a matter of fact, the government faces legal challenges on a daily basis, but that doesn’t mean we should put on hold important work, which is in the public interest of Hong Kong,” Lam said ahead of her weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday.

“As far as individual action taken relating to this particular legislative amendment, since it [has entered a] judicial process, I am not going to offer any comments.”

The extradition bill would be moved to the Legislative Council for its first and second readings as scheduled, the chief executive added.