Govt accused of misconduct in council records row

The government on Tuesday accused district councillor Ramon Yuen of making false allegations over his charges that officials had committed misconduct by leaving out all record of the council’s ‘agreement’ to add previously-ignored debates to the official record.

Yuen said the Sham Shui Po District Council had approved his proposal during a meeting in November to add detailed records of past debates that had taken place without any government officials present.

The debates in question relate to various issues, including changes made to local history textbooks and the ramming of protesters by a taxi in 2019.

The officials had walked out to mark their refusal to recognise the legitimacy of these discussions.

However, Yuen’s request to change the record were left out of the official minutes of the November meeting.

There was no mention of the discussion that took place, or the vote that Yuen says was taken.

The Democratic Party member said he has made a report on the alleged misconduct to the police and the Ombudsman, and would report the incident to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday.

But the Home Affairs Department struck back in a statement, expressing ‘extreme regret’ at his ‘false accusations’.

It stressed that it had repeatedly informed Yuen that the administration would not provide secretariat support for discussions which it deems as falling outside the scope of the District Council, and hence would not include them in any official recording of council meetings.

The bureau said Yuen – like all other council members – had an opportunity to ask for amendments to the minutes during a meeting on Tuesday, but did not do so.