Appointment of supervisory committee to conduct investigation into alleged misconduct of District Council member
The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs (SHYA), Miss Alice Mak, appointed a supervisory committee today (July 18) to investigate alleged misconduct of Tuen Mun District Council (DC) member Mr Kenneth Yip Kat-kong.
The Chairman and three members of the Tuen Mun DC initiated an investigation into Mr Yip's alleged misconduct pursuant to the District Councils Ordinance (Cap. 547) on July 15. The SHYA appointed a supervisory committee according to the Ordinance to conduct the investigation, and the five committee members are Mr Li Tak-hong, Ms Luparker Wong Shuk-fan, Mr Ng King-wah, Ms Janus Lau Yuen-yee, and Mr Lau Kar-wah. The supervisory committee will establish whether the facts on which the allegation is based are true; give its opinion on whether the established facts constitute grounds for imposing a sanction under section 72D of the Ordinance; and if there is ground for imposing a sanction, give its opinion on the appropriate sanction to be imposed on the DC member concerned. After completing the investigation, the supervisory committee will submit a report to the SHYA for consideration. The SHYA will make a decision after considering the report and announce such a decision in due course.
Miss Mak said, "The Government places strong emphasis on the conduct and integrity of DC members, and they should conduct themselves in a manner that is in line with public expectations and commensurate with the reputation of the DC and its members. Under the Ordinance, the Government may investigate DC members' misconduct and impose sanctions according to the performance monitoring mechanism for DC members to ensure that every DC member upholds their duties faithfully to serve the people."
Miss Mak continued, "The five members of the supervisory committee include one person who is not a DC member and four DC members from districts other than Tuen Mun. They have diverse backgrounds and rich district experience. The supervisory committee will handle the investigation in a robust, fair, just, impartial, independent and objective manner in accordance with the established mechanism."
The supervisory committee was appointed pursuant to section 72C of the Ordinance. In order to avoid impacting the impartiality of the supervisory committee's investigation, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau will not comment on the case during the supervisory committee's investigation.
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