Pan-dems Threaten Legal Action Over Legco 'coup'

Pro-democracy legislators said on Sunday that they are planning legal action against Legco's secretary general Kenneth Chen, accusing him of misconduct in public office by helping their rivals attempt to seize control of a bills committee looking at changes to extradition laws.

The secretariat has written to lawmakers asking them if they back the idea of letting pro-government lawmaker Abraham Shek preside over Monday afternoon's meeting of the committee, instead of Democrat James To.

The move was a swift response to a House Committee vote on Saturday evening, where guidelines for the bills committee were approved calling for To to step aside. The secretariat gave legislators until midday on Monday to give their views on the switch, saying it would be deemed to have been accepted if lawmakers indicated their support.

The pro-establishment camp are furious that To allowed filibustering at the first two meetings of the bills committee, and to the extent that no chairman has yet been selected.

But the pro-democracy camp have cried foul over the secretariat's intervention in the saga, saying only a committee chair is allowed to send such a letter and the secretariat is taking part in a political coup with pro-government lawmakers.

The pan-dems' convenor, Claudia Mo, said that to fight back, they will first send their own letter, to Legco's secretary general, and the next step could be a judicial review.

"It's an act of subversion by the Legco secretariat who is supposed to serve the entire legislature and not just one sector of pro-Beijing lawmakers," Mo said.

"The fact that they would just bypass all the necessary rules and regulations in order to achieve what their bosses want is more than preposterous."

Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung told RTHK's Joanne Wong that Chen had to account for his actions over the affair.

Meanwhile, James To has insisted that he will preside over the next meeting of the committee and says it is up to him to decide whether the committee even discusses the guidelines on replacing him.