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Opinion | Justice chief Teresa Cheng doesn’t think she owes Hong Kong any explanation about the CY Leung case. She’s clueless

  • Alice Wu says the justice minister previously said the public should focus on her department’s work, not her illegal structures scandal. Now, ironically, after the saga of the CY Leung case, she’d rather they didn’t scrutinise her work too closely

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Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng meets the media at Hong Kong International Airport after returning from a trip, rejecting calls to further explain the decision to drop a corruption probe into former Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying. Photo: Dickson Lee
We stand on the cusp of a new year, but it doesn’t look like Hong Kong is ready to let bygones be bygones, thanks to the city’s Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah.
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It is unfathomable why a top official should be away on a break and remain eerily silent on the legal principles behind her department’s decision to drop the highly publicised corruption investigation into former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, without following the previous practice of seeking an independent legal opinion. The case involved Australian engineering firm UGL’s payment of HK$50 million (US$6.38 million) to Leung.
However, it is clear that Cheng has no clue why her silence sparked such a public outcry. To make matters worse for the government, Cheng returned from her holiday in a bitter mood, and her attempt to explain not only came much too late, it came out all wrong.

It’s anyone’s guess why she even bothered to meet the media. She didn’t offer an explanation – most people would not call her tirade anything of the sort. It explained nothing – Cheng spent most of her time emphasising that she has no further comment. And yet, it explained a lot, although not on the matter of huge public interest, but on how arrogant and ignorant Cheng is.

It is ludicrous for a top official to basically say she does not care about public concerns or about allaying doubt and suspicion over preferential treatment. It is a dereliction of duty for the justice chief to display such contempt for the public and so little understanding of the need to be open and willing to provide the public with an explanation, in order to protect public confidence in due process and the rule of law. And, it is incredible that Cheng still can’t grasp what holding public office means.

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For a marathon investigation lasting four years, a simple “insufficient evidence to support a reasonable prospect of conviction” is simply not enough – not enough for the investigator and not enough for the general public. It’s not enough for the government’s friends, let alone foes. In fact, it wasn’t enough for her boss, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
A protester holds a placard of Hong Kong's justice secretary Teresa Cheng and Chief Executive Carrie Lam during a march on February 11, calling for Cheng to step down over illegal structures found at the homes she owns. Lam refused to rescind her nomination. Photo: AFP
A protester holds a placard of Hong Kong's justice secretary Teresa Cheng and Chief Executive Carrie Lam during a march on February 11, calling for Cheng to step down over illegal structures found at the homes she owns. Lam refused to rescind her nomination. Photo: AFP
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