Hong Kong leader John Lee spared penalty for failing to observe election rules over campaign adverts
- John Lee, 64, ran three adverts on his Facebook campaign page between April 13 and 18 in which three public figures endorsed him
- But Lee failed to submit copies of the trio’s consent of support within one working day after the ads’ publication in accordance with guidelines
Madam Justice Queeny Au Yeung Kwai-yue accepted Lee’s breach was “purely out of inadvertence in the midst of heavy workload, tight time frames, limited manpower and lack of communication”.
She noted Lee’s electioneering team had overlooked only three consent forms, whereas about 800 similar documents had been duly published on an online election platform before the discovery of the breach.
“This is not a case where someone turned a blind eye to legal requirements,” the judge said.
“The non-compliance was caused by inadvertence. The inadvertence was not gross as to call in doubt the good faith of Mr Lee or [his] campaign office. The remedy to the non-compliance was prompt. The delay in uploading was a relatively short one. There was no bad faith shown.”
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