A judicial activist has filed a legal challenge seeking to oust pro-Beijing legislators Elizabeth Quat and Wilson Or from their seats due to questions over their academic credentials.
“I request that the court orders the disqualifications of Elizabeth Quat and Wilson Or, who fraudulently obtained their seats using false credentials,” wrote Kwok Cheuk-kin in his notice of application seen by HKFP.
Thursday’s judicial review application comes a week after the High Court disqualified four pro-democracy lawmakers over the way they took their oaths of office, bringing the total number of ousted opposition legislators to six.
‘No records’
Wilson Or, a Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) lawmaker, was elected last September to represent the Kowloon East geographical constituency.
A month before the election, he told Ming Pao that he completed an MBA degree at Nottingham Trent University through an organisation named Raffles Academy – World Education Council.
See also: Two pro-Beijing LegCo candidates face queries over education claims
However, the university told the newspaper that there were no records of any student named “Or Chong-shing” or “Or Chong-shing Wilson.”
This April, Or told Apple Daily he had hired a lawyer to clarify the matter with Nottingham Trent University, and was still waiting for the university to respond. Or does not state any education and professional qualifications in his profile on the Legislative Council website.
Fellow DAB member Quat claimed that she obtained a PhD from Greenwich University, Hawaii during the 2012 legislative elections. Two years later, financial activist David Webb said that the institution has never been accredited by the US Department of Education.
Quat did not make the same claims on her education background during the 2016 elections, and does not state her credentials on her Legislative Council website profile.
She told Ming Pao on Thursday that Kwok’s judicial review was a case of “political sensationalism.” She claimed he was taking revenge for the four disqualified opposition lawmakers on behalf of the pro-democracy camp.
Last month, Kwok received notice from Hong Kong’s Legal Aid Department that he would be banned from receiving government financial assistance for his legal challenges for the next three years. The department said his conduct amounted to “abuse” of the legal aid system.
See also: Gov’t ban on elderly man applying for legal aid may be unconstitutional, legal experts say
Kwok sent a letter to the department opposing the ban, but the department has not yet made a decision on whether to rescind it.
