The decision yesterday to demand four lawmakers ousted this year each pay back up to HK$3.1 million (US$397,000) in salaries and allowances is “ridiculous” and smacked of “double standards,” one of the four said today.
The group were stripped of their Legco seats in July after a court ruling that voided their oaths of office for reasons including speaking too slowly, inserting extra words, and using a tone deemed disrespectful to China.
The specialist legislative commission on Monday demanded the group pay back salary and allowances backdated to the day they took office, Oct. 1 last year.
Speaking by phone this afternoon, one of the four former lawmakers, Lau Siu-lai, told Coconuts HK the request was unreasonable as the group had worked as legislators up until the court’s ruling five months ago.
“It is ridiculous; we have don’t our job, they accepted all our output and work, and our votes at meetings will be valid, but just our salaries and allowances must be paid back,” Lau said by phone, saying it represented clear “double standards”.
In announcing the decision on Monday, Legco president Andrew Leung said the commission had determined it had a duty to recover the public funds, according to the SCMP.
He said the amounts to be recovered from each person ranged from HK$2.7 million to HK$3.1 million and the group will get four weeks to respond to the request.
Lau said the group — which also includes “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, Nathan Law and Edward Yiu — were still consulting with lawyers and discussing their options.
Critics see the move as a way to put further pressure on the pan-democratic camp, many of whom have been critical of what they see as Beijing’s increasing interference in Hong Kong affairs.
The group’s ousting followed a controversial interpretation of Hong Kong’s Basic Law by China’s parliament last November, which ruled that lawmakers must swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China and deliver their oaths “sincerely” and “solemnly” or face disqualification.
Another two former lawmakers, Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching, who were stripped of their seats last November for oath-taking antics, have also been asked to repay salaries by the Legco commission, which has taken the pair to court to recover some HK$930,000 from each.
