Chief Executive CY Leung is scheduled to step down at the end of the month, but he won’t be leaving quietly if opposition lawmakers have their way.
During his last official address to the legislature as chief executive, Leung was confronted with loud calls for his ouster and chanted accusations of corruption in what marked the start of a wild session that saw one democratic lawmaker forcibly removed from the chamber by security, and another ordered to leave.
Despite the boisterous beginning, it was after Leung gave a brief recap of the government’s work on land, education and healthcare, that the real fun started.
During the traditional Q&A session, pan-democrat lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, better known as “Long Hair”, bluntly asked the chief executive to apologize for recently stating that UGL-related questions from the opposition were being asked for the sake of political brownie points.
Leung is under scrutiny for failing to declare two payments — of GBP1.5 million (HKD18.7 million) and GBP4 million (HKD50 million) — he received from Australian engineering company UGL during his tenure as chief executive, leading to anti-graft investigations.
READ MORE: Why is CY Leung being investigated over the UGL payout?
Wearing a T-shirt that said “Investigate the UGL’s 50 million and 689 (a reference to the votes it took for CY Leung to become chief executive)”, Long Hair asked the chief executive to clarify whether he was addressing lawmakers as a Chinese official or as the leader of Hong Kong, a pointed attack on his perceived allegiance to the mainland Chinese government.
Later in the session, the lawmaker left his seat and bolted toward the chief executive, throwing paper at him until being forcibly removed from the room by security, who escorted him out as he continued to loudly demand that the Hong Kong leader step down.
Several other lawmakers then joined in, demanding Leung address the UGL accusations. Localist lawmaker Lau Siu-lai, who is under
In response, Leung said that these allegations has been dealt with in the past and that any attempts to bring up these incidents are merely for … you guessed it, “political brownie points”.
He added that whether or not lawmakers believe him, they should have faith in the UK and Australian authorities, who have yet to approach him despite the two involved firms being based in those countries.
Leung was not without allies, as a number of pro-Beijing lawmakers thanked Leung for his contributions during his tenure, or ventured more run-of-the-mill questions on specific healthcare and social welfare issues.
All the same, as he exited the room, it was to yet more chants from lawmakers demanding he step down.
