ICAC chief claims he alone, and not CY Leung, made decision to remove deputy

Simon Peh Yun-lu, head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, said he had personally conducted the ­appraisal for Rebecca Li Bo-lan, acting head of the operations ­department and the first woman to lead the watchdog’s powerful investigative unit.

“I notified the chief executive before [deciding to terminate Li’s acting appointment], and he did not give his views or take part in the decision-making process,” he said. “In my appraisal, Li failed to meet the job requirements, so I terminated her acting capacity. It is my own judgment.”

But Peh would not specify what Li had failed to deliver, citing privacy reasons. It was his own decision, he reiterated, when asked whether Beijing’s liaison office in the city had any say.

Li was asked to step back into her previous role as director of investigations for the public sector but has now decided to end her contract prematurely.