Officials accused of 'fabricating' meeting records by Hong Kong district councillor

Officials have been accused of ”fabricating” an audio record of comments made by a Democratic Party district councillor during a meeting late last year.

Democratic Party district councillor, Ramon Yuen, has vowed to lodge a police complaint against officials from the Sham Shui Po District Council Secretariat who he claims ”trimmed” a five-minute recording of a discussion during a council meeting on November 10, 2020.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Yuen said the discussion – which took place at the sixth meeting of district council – covered his proposal to make amendments to the records of previous meetings. Yuen wanted secretariat officials to document conversations among district councillors during the preceding fourth and fifth meetings, after the government’s district officer had left the gathering.

The discussion in question included comments about a case involving a taxi driver who allegedly rammed his vehicle into pro-democracy protesters in 2019.

Yuen says he later found out that the audio record of the sixth meeting prepared by the secretariat excluded the discussion and voting on his amendment proposal. He said the conversation, which had originally lasted five minutes and 26 seconds, only lasted around 20 seconds on the official record.

According to local media, Yuen tried to play the audio in question during the press conference. But the recording had been removed by the secretariat. Written minutes from the office to district councillors last month stated council members did not make amendment suggestions.

“Today they can amend this five minutes, in the future, it can tamper with more decisions,” the pro-democracy district councillor said.

Yuen accused the secretariat staff from the Home Affairs Department of committing misconduct in public office, saying he would be making a report alleging “fraud” and “forgery” to the police.

Local media also reported that district officer Paul Wong said in a meeting on Tuesday that the secretariat did not include the discussion because it was not within the ambit of the duties and powers of the district council. He added he did not think such move involved any criminal liabilities.