Hong Kong leader promises ‘fairness and truth’ in probes into alleged rule breaches by Cathay Pacific, officials in birthday party fiasco
- Investigations into whether Cathay abused quarantine exemption policy and conduct of officials caught up in birthday party scandal will not be ‘left unsettled’, Chief Executive Carrie Lam says
- Three senior officials who attended the party, including Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui, allowed to leave quarantine camp on Monday
Hong Kong’s leader has promised that her administration will seek “fairness and truth” in its investigations into whether the city’s flagship carrier and officials who attended an infamous birthday party had breached pandemic rules.
“I can guarantee that these probes will not be left unsettled. Society needs to know the truth, and I need to be fair to the corporation and my colleagues as well,” she said during a media briefing.
“But I have asked them to use their own leave for home isolation during which they have to conduct coronavirus tests,” Lam said. “They can only resume duties as early as January 24 [if the tests are negative].”
Fourteen senior officials, retired customs chief Hermes Tang Yi-hoi, and 20 lawmakers attended the birthday banquet on January 3, along with 221 guests, where they were exposed to at least two coronavirus patients. Eleven officials who did not need to be quarantined were told not to leave home, except for mandatory testing.
They will resume work on January 22 if all the results of their tests are negative.
The bash at Spanish restaurant Reserva Iberica in Wan Chai was hosted by Witman Hung Wai-man, a delegate to China’s legislature and principal liaison officer for Hong Kong at the Shenzhen Qianhai Authority.
All 20 lawmakers, including four who are in quarantine, missed the Legislative Council’s first meeting on January 12.
Most of the remaining 16 legislators are expected to attend the Legco meeting on Wednesday. Two of them, Judy Chan Kapui and Lai Tung-kwok of the New People’s Party, said they sought experts’ advice and decided the party’s lawmakers should show up.
“I’ve done six tests and the results were all negative,” Lai said.
Hong Kong Covid-19 rules may have been broken at birthday party: lawyers
Chan added: “It’s been more than two weeks since we attended the party, and the woman infected with the coronavirus went after we left the venue.”
Lai and Chan were expected to move two motions on border reopening and regulating foreign domestic helper agencies.
Tsui was seen leaving the government-run camp by car at about 7.30pm on Monday without talking to the press.
He said through his press secretary on Tuesday that he had received a notification from the Department of Health that he had met the required conditions for release, including negative test results for the coronavirus, and that he had returned home. Tsui must follow up with screening at a community testing centre.
Director of Immigration Au Ka-wang had completed quarantine on Monday and left the camp that night, a spokesman for the department said.
Allen Fung Ying-lun, political assistant to the development minister, had completed his quarantine on Monday and it was arranged for him to leave the camp, the Development Bureau said. He was expected to return to his office on January 25.
Lam vows probe into Cathay’s claims it did not abuse Hong Kong quarantine exemption
Lam said on Tuesday that the probe into Cathay needed to be “very cautious”. The airline is accused of taking advantage of a so-called loophole that allowed returning cabin crew who had flown out on commercial routes to skip hotel quarantine and self-isolate at home – an exemption granted only to cargo pilots.
“When the probe is done, we will surely take the appropriate actions and explain to the public,” she said.
Additional reporting by Danny Mok
