Show No Fear, Ombudsman Lau Tells Successor

The outgoing Ombudsman, Connie Lau, has urged her replacement to have no fear as she challenges cases of malpractice by the government.

Lau's five-year term of office comes to an end later this month, and she will be replaced by Winnie Chiu, a former deputy police commissioner. Lau hopes Chiu will continue to make use of her office's power to carry out direct investigations – probes based on its own concerns about government work, rather than specific public complaints.

"I do hope that she will continue to probe departments by means of direct investigation, I think it's a very good weapon to do that," Lau said.

Speaking to RTHK's Jimmy Choi, Lau said she had no regrets about her tenure.

"I strongly recommend my successor to uphold our spirit of openness and fairness, and the way that we are looking for good justice, and we should also not be frightened or scared to do what is right to do," Lau added.

She said she had achieved the two major targets she set on taking office – greatly increasing the number of complaints settled by mediation and doubling the annual number of direct investigations implemented by her office.

She said a direct investigation of the Housing Department found a large number of unused rooms that could be converted into housing. As a result of the investigation, 70 families had new homes.

Lau says she has no plans to take any other government position and wants to spend more time with her family.