Hong Kong justice chief Teresa Cheng under fire after rejecting calls to further explain CY Leung’s UGL payment case
- Secretary for justice breaks two-week silence during which she has been on leave, and labels as ‘spurious’ accusations she was being evasive
- She urges critics instead not to politicise legal matters
Hong Kong’s justice minister returned home from leave on Boxing Day only to set off a new chorus of criticism by flatly rejecting widespread calls to further explain why her department dropped an investigation into the business dealings of former city leader Leung Chun-ying.
Breaking a two-week silence on the controversy, Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah sparked more doubts about her justification for not seeking advice from legal experts outside the Department of Justice (DOJ) – her claim that this was only necessary when internal staff were being investigated was instantly questioned and contradicted by local professionals.
Cheng instead urged critics not to politicise a legal matter and dismissed suggestions that she had been on official leave since December 15 to avoid facing the public.
“The leave which I have taken was planned over a month ago and has nothing to do with the very spurious suggestion that I was avoiding the matter,” she said.
The controversy blew up on December 12, when the Independent Commission Against Corruption announced it would end its investigation into Australian engineering firm UGL’s payment of HK$50 million (US$6.38 million) to Leung in 2012 and 2013, when he was the city’s chief executive.
