The Court of Appeal has refused Raymond Wong Yuk-man leave to appeal over a judicial review bid regarding Ng Leung-sing’s halting of a filibuster in June 2014.
Wong’s application for judicial review, submitted in June last year, was first rejected in the Court of First Instance in October.
The Court of Appeal decided that the chances of success for an appeal were slim and rejected Wong Yuk-man’s request for permission to appeal on January 22.
The judge in the original hearing stated that it was within the power of the Financial Committee chair to limit or stop debates and to call for a vote. The court would not interfere with how the power was used because of the principle of the separation of powers.
In 2014, then-Finance committee chair Ng Leung-Sing forced a vote on the government’s request for HK$340 million for the controversial development of new towns in the Northeastern New Territories.
The pan-democrats had left their seats in protest after Ng told lawmakers to stop asking questions. A vote was called before the pan-democrats had a chance to return to their seats and the controversial funding request passed 29 to 2.
Wong was ordered to pay HK$70,000 in court costs. He said that he may think about appealing again.
