A committee will be formed to decide whether pro-Beijing lawmaker Holden Chow should be censured for his secret cooperation with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
Chow could be stripped of his lawmaker status if two thirds of the lawmakers vote to pass the condemnation motion after the committee’s investigation.
Chow allowed Leung to secretly alter the scope of a legislative investigation into his controversial HK$50 million payment from Australian firm UGL. Chow was forced to resign from the investigation committee following the scandal.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo raised a condemnation motion against Chow on Thursday. It was discussed in LegCo after a motion to impeach Leung failed to pass.
Mo said Chow violated Article 104 of the Basic Law and the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance. She argued that he committed a misbehaviour, which constituted a breach of the oath he took as a lawmaker.
She asked to form a new committee to investigate Chow: “Firstly, why didn’t Chow say no to Leung? Secondly, why didn’t he disclose that the revisions were from Leung, the subject of investigation?”
She said Chow was motivated by “the excitement of proximity to power,” which made him “Leung’s puppet.” Chow was recently reappointed to the Equal Opportunities Commission for a two-year term by the chief executive.
The pro-Beijing DAB party, which Chow belongs to, initially said its lawmakers would block the condemnation motion using a counter motion. But none of the party’s lawmakers raised the motion on Thursday.
Starry Lee, the party’s leader, said the Council spent nine hours debating the motion to impeach Leung, and the debate would only be repeated if they raised the counter motion.
“We don’t think the legislature should be a platform for political attacks,” she said.
As Mo finished her speech, LegCo president Andrew Leung announced that the matter will be handed to a committee.
