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Simpson Cheung
Ailing asylum seekers and torture claimants still appealing against their unsuccessful applications to remain in the city say they are turning to hospital emergency services because they cannot get a waiver of their medical fees.
The number of torture claimants and asylum seekers granted waivers of non-emergency medical fees by the Hospital Authority has soared threefold in the past four financial years to at least HK$40.8 million.
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Lawmakers have expressed concerns over what they called arbitrary and creative accounting by the Independent Commission Against Corruption as they examine expenses for meals and duty visits incurred by its former chief, Timothy Tong Hin-ming.
Under questioning by lawmakers at his third and final appearance before the Legislative Council's public accounts committee, Timothy Tong also admitted that he had received a gift of a traditional Chinese screen worth as much as HK$200,000 from mainland judicial officials in 2007. It was still in ICAC headquarters when he stepped down last year.
The latest development came as Barry Cheung resigned from his positions in major businesses - as a board member of Russian aluminium producer United Co Rusal and as an independent non-executive director of AIA Group Limited.
Troubled former chief graft-buster Timothy Tong Hin-ming admitted for the first time yesterday that he had approved the purchase of strong spirits for use at receptions. Tong told lawmakers that buying different types of alcohol was necessary to meet different guests' needs at functions held by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Police last night arrested a fourth suspect - a 60-year-old man - in the investigation into the failure of the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx).
At a Legislative Council committee hearing into his hospitality spending, Tong attributed the higher entertainment bills racked up during his five-year tenure at the Independent Commission Against Corruption to a rise in the number of visitors to the agency's headquarters in North Point after it opened in 2007.
The hearing of the Legislative Council's Public Accounts Committee to question Tong and his successor, Simon Peh Yun-lu, was meant to run for four hours but ended after Tong gave evidence for less than 90 minutes when lawmakers accused him of dodging questions and wasting time.
Former ICAC chief Timothy Tong Hin-ming spent HK$100,000 of public money on a reception at The Peak in one of two lavish dinners he will face questions over in the Legislative Council today.
Student protesters who were forcibly removed from a Tseung Kwan O college by police on Thursday condemned officers for abusing their power. They also complained about how male officers handled females. One said she felt "uncomfortable and offended" when a policeman grabbed her from behind, touching her breasts.
All employees of offices set up in Hong Kong by the central government are to obey the city's laws, as laid out in the Basic Law, the Department of Justice says.
Police and customs drug seizures have surged in the first three months of the year, figures show. There was also a strong rise in seizure of fake credit cards and yuan notes in the second half of last year.
The city's anti-graft agency said last night it will launch a corruption investigation into its former chief Timothy Tong Hin-ming. He becomes the first head of the graft-busting agency to face a criminal probe in the Independent Commission Against Corruption's 39-year history.
A transsexual who plans to marry her boyfriend in church after winning a legal battle on Monday said yesterday her victory was an answer from God that she "did not choose a wrong path".
The Independent Commission Against Corruption has long been one of Hong Kong's most cherished institutions, credited with helping turn the city from one of Asia's most corrupt into one of its cleanest.
Corruption complaints that are deemed "pursuable" - excluding election-related cases - account for 70 per cent to 80 per cent of all reports the ICAC receives every year, a review of its annual reports for the years 2000 to 2011 shows.
Andy Tsang Wai-hung said officers did not know until she was arrested on Wednesday that Melody Chan Yuk-fung had joined the movement to occupy roads in the city centre in a pro-democracy protest planned for next year.
