James To Remains Defiant Over Fugitive Law Panel

Democratic Party lawmaker James To says he has every intention of presiding over the next meeting on Monday afternoon of a bills committee looking at extradition laws, despite moves to replace him with the pro-establishment camp's Abraham Shek.

Legco's House Committee on Saturday passed guidelines calling for To to step aside, and the Legco secretariat has given lawmakers until midday on Monday to let it know if they agree with the plan.

A letter to members of the bills committee says if they indicate support for the guidelines, the switch between To and Shek will be considered to have been accepted.

As the most senior lawmaker, To presided over the first two meetings of the bills committee. But with the pro-democracy camp filibustering the proceedings, members have still not managed to elect a chairman.

The pro-democracy councillors have cried foul over the secretariat's move, saying staff are biased and have overstepped their powers being as such a letter should only be sent on the direction of a committee chair.

To also insisted that he should be the one to decide whether the bills committee discusses the guidelines at its meeting and he has asked the secretariat to withdraw the letter.

But the chairman of Legco's Committee on Rules of Procedure, Paul Tse, said To has already lost his power to preside over the meetings.

The pro-Beijing lawmaker said the secretariat is only working in accordance with the result of Saturday's House Committee vote and in the absence of a bills committee chairman, there is "nothing wrong" with the secretariat sending out such a letter.