Reported Veto Of Anti-graft Law Hurts HK: Lawmaker

Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok said on Wednesday that if a report that Beijing has blocked Carrie Lam's move to tighten anti-graft laws is true, then it is very bad news for Hong Kong.

A South China Morning Post report on Wednesday said that the central government has vetoed Lam's idea to have the law cover the Chief Executive, because it can't accept enactment of local laws to regulate actions of the official, who is appointed by the mainland.

The report also said Beijing is concerned that the CE would become susceptible to politically motivated accusations of corruption.

Kwok said if the claims are true, it shows that this government can only do what Beijing wants, even if it means dropping the Chief Executive's own election promise.

He said the government has been saying all along that the delay in implementing what Lam had promised was due to legal complications. But if what the report says is true, that was a facade, said Kwok.

"It means that the Chief Executive would ignore what the Hong Kong people want and what is good for Hong Kong, because it doesn't want to go against the will of Beijing," he said.

The lawmaker also rejected Beijing's claim, as mentioned in the report, that such a new law would be misused politically.

Kwok said if the top official appointed by Beijing abides by the rules, there won't be any political fallout.

Beijing had made some very bad choices in the past in terms of chief executive in the past. It should learn from those mistakes," he said.

The lawmaker told RTHK's Frances Sit that Hong Kong needs the changes to make sure that the city remains corruption free.