Hong Kong top official Caspar Tsui’s exit after ‘partygate’ serves up a warning to other political appointees on expectations, say analysts

Hong Kong leader’s handling of her disgraced home affairs minister served as a salutary lesson to officials that they risked the axe if their conduct – even in non-official settings – breached expectations of their role, analysts have said.

The entire management of the case of Caspar Tsui Ying-wai and other officials, however, could have been more transparent, the observers suggested, to help the administration repair the damage to its reputation.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Monday announced the findings of her probe into 15 officials who attended the infamous party in early January.

The event – held in a Wan Chai Spanish tapas bar on January 3 by pro-Beijing figure Witman Hung Wai-man to celebrate his 53rd birthday – has snowballed into a major embarrassment for Lam’s government over the past weeks.

Lam concluded that Allen Fung Ying-lun, political assistant to the development secretary, and Vincent Fung Hao-yin, deputy head of Policy Innovation and Coordination Office, would receive verbal warnings for violating social-distancing rules.

But the spotlight was on Tsui, who resigned hours before Lam met the press to confirm how the appointed official, charged with combating the pandemic, had stayed for a long time at the party, chatted to others without wearing a mask and had not used the “Leave Home Safe” app while there.