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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3083001/hong-kong-court-orders-two-disqualified-lawmakers
Hong Kong/ Law and Crime

Hong Kong court orders two disqualified lawmakers ousted over oath-taking saga to repay HK$1.9 million to public purse

  • Sixtus Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching were told in their absence to return wages and subsidies they received before their disqualification
  • They were thrown out of the Legislative Council in 2016 for shouting anti-China slurs and pro-independence slogans during swearing-in ceremonies
Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Baggio Leung did not show up to Tuesday’s court hearing, where they were ordered to refund the public purse. Photo: Felix Wong

A Hong Kong court has ordered two disqualified pro-independence lawmakers to return HK$1.86 million (US$240,000) paid to them from public funds after they repeatedly failed to attend hearings to fight the claim.

Ruling in favour of the Legislative Council Commission, registrar Simon Lui Kin-man of the District Court said that Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching must each repay about HK$930,000 in wages and subsidies.

The commission applied for default judgment after the duo – who are from the pro-independence group Youngspiration and were ousted in 2016 as part of the oath-taking saga – did not show up at the case management hearing on Tuesday or the previous one on July 26 last year.

Leung told the Post he still owed more than HK$4 million in legal fees so the commission, being a small creditor, would have to wait in line for repayment.

He also said it would be unreasonable for him to waste more energy on the matter, saying the regime had moved the goalposts to disqualify lawmakers in the first place, before suppressing them with what he called procedural tricks.

Meanwhile, Yau said on Facebook she was ready to celebrate her birthday early, claiming she had received “a bomb intended to blow her up” but that she would rebuild no matter how hard the impact. Her birthday is on Wednesday.

The defendants lost their Legco seats in November 2016 for distorting their oath of office during their swearing-in ceremony a month earlier, when they shouted pro-independence slogans and insulted China.

By then, the commission had paid each of them HK$929,573 between September 22 and October 28.

The sum included a monthly salary of HK$95,180 for October 2016, plus HK$834,393 for office operations, information technology, entertainment and travelling expenses.

The commission then issued multiple notices demanding repayment and finally decided to take the duo to court in October 2017 after its final ultimatum was ignored.

Court documents showed that lawyers for the commission had argued that its payments to the pair were actually “unlawful”, as Leung and Yau had not formally assumed public office.

It added that it had disbursed the money mistakenly, wrongly thinking that Leung and Yau were entitled to it ahead of their swearing-in.

The court heard Leung and Yau had both filed their respective defence in late 2018 but did not provide further details as requested by the commission that year.

They also did not respond when the court asked last year whether they would continue their defence since they were absent from the last hearing.

Lawmaker-elect Yau Wai-ching displays a banner reading during a Legislative Council oath-taking session in October 2016. Photo: Sam Tsang
Lawmaker-elect Yau Wai-ching displays a banner reading during a Legislative Council oath-taking session in October 2016. Photo: Sam Tsang

A woman who introduced herself as Leung’s aunt had attempted to apply for stay of proceedings in a bid to halt the case on Tuesday.

But that was rejected by the court after the registrar concluded that she did not have sufficient interest to be a party in the case.

A spokesman for the Legco Secretariat said they were aware of the ruling and would follow up after carefully studying the content.

Additional reporting by Natalie Wong

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