Hong Kong court overturns ex-lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting’s conviction for exposing corruption buster’s investigation into police commander
- Lam Cheuk-ting acquitted of three counts of revealing inquiry by city’s corruption buster into police commander in relation to violence at railway station in 2019
- Deputy judge says Lam only disclosed Superintendent Yau was under investigation, offence not included in ordinance
Deputy judge Douglas Yau of the Court of First Instance on Thursday acquitted Lam of three counts of disclosing probe details when he revealed an inquiry by the city’s corruption buster into Superintendent Yau Nai-keung over alleged misconduct in public office. The Democratic Party member was sentenced to four months in prison in 2022.
Yau was an assistant commander in Yuen Long when more than 100 white-clad men, most of them armed with rods and rattan canes, injured at least 45 people in an incident that was widely regarded as an escalation point for tensions between police and radicals during the 2019 anti-government protests.
The officer, who later became a regional commander in the northern New Territories, said that night that his team found no rods in a nearby village, where most of the assailants had gathered after the attack, and uncovered no signs of criminal activity.
Lam subsequently accused police of spreading lies and delaying an investigation into the incident during three press conferences between December 2019 and July 2020.
He also revealed that Yau was being investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and criticised the force’s decision to allow the officer to lead an inquiry into the attack while his integrity was under scrutiny.
