Dear Hong Kongers,



Earlier this month, I launched a crowd-funding campaign known as ‘Wolf-hunting’ with fellow legislative councilors Andrew Wan, Roy Kwong, and Barrister Senia Ng, to pursue the case of CY Leung over his $50 million agreement with the Australian company UGL. To our pleasant surprise, the campaign reached the preliminary target of $2 million in just under a week. We humbly thank the public for their generosity and for having faith in us.
 
After the media reported on CY’s secret agreement with UGL in October 2014, under which he received the equivalent of $50 million for his services, the public, myself included, seriously questioned his conduct. I therefore reported the case to Hong Kong’s ICAC, became a member of the Legislative Council’s Select Committee tasked to investigate into the matter, and also reported the case to UK’s National Crime Agency. After my trip to the UK last year, many people approached me to voice their support, and urged me not to let CY away from this case easily. The people’s support encouraged me to kickstart this campaign.
 
Reaching our preliminary target in just under a week was truly unexpected. That demonstrates that Hongkongers want justice to be served and that they still have serious doubts over the $50 million payment CY Leung possibly received from UGL during his term as the Chief Executive. We need to extend our appreciation to CY for the legal letter he sent us, also in which, where the campaign’s conveners were warned that defamation could result in a 2-year jail sentence. The letter inevitably helped us increase the exposure of the campaign, which helped us to reach our target sooner.
What was the campaign about?
In essence, according to public sources, it has been alleged that CY was the director of DTZ at the time, that he entered into an agreement with UGL. The agreement stipulated that CY would be paid $50 million, in exchange for his support of the acquisition of DTZ by UGL and then CY’s assistance in promoting UGL and DTZ. As CY was still the director of DTZ when he started negotiating the agreement with UGL, it is suspected that he had breached his fiduciary duty as a director. Moreover, the evidence also shows he received payment of the $50 million during his term as the Chief Executive. However, there has been no evidence to prove CY made any disclosure of these payments. Therefore, based on the facts and available evidence derived from the public domain, my Hong Kong legal team concluded that CY might have violated section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201), and the common law offence of Misconduct in Public Office.  
 
However, in the legal letter CY sent us, although without providing any supporting documents, CY disclosed to the public for the first time that the then Chairman of DTZ gave him a written consent on behalf of the DTZ board to negotiate with UGL, and that he was advised not to attend future board meetings in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest. I find it baffling that CY only chose to disclose this information three and a half years after this incident was exposed by the media. Further, with no supporting documents were given with the letter to verify his claim. My Hong Kong legal team already responded to his letter last week and asked CY to disclose the letter to the public by 3rd May 2018. We are now waiting for his response.
 
All this time, CY has continuously refused to fully explain the matter or to provide documents in support of what he said. He also did not attend any LegCo Select Committee meetings. CY also colluded with Holden Chow, a then member of the Select Committee, in an attempt to interfere with the LegCo investigation. Thus, even though Andrew WAN and I are both members of the Select Committee, the numerical advantage the pro-establishment camp enjoys in the Select Committee has meant that progress has been slow, and the outlook remains unclear.
 
I strongly believe the truth deserves to be told and that justice should be served. Given that the outlook of the progress of investigations by the LegCo and ICAC remain uncertain, I am not the only one who feels that something more should be done to pursue this case. As this case involves DTZ, which is a company formerly listed in the UK, and as UGL is an Australian company, we think that the investigation should not be limited to Hong Kong. That is why, in addition to our Hong Kong legal team, composed of local barristers and solicitors, we will also engage and liaise with lawyers and government officials in the UK and Australia.  
 
It is important to stress that the ‘Wolf-hunting’ crowd-funding campaign will be conducted over an extended period of time so a sizeable sum is needed to sustain the work which involves complicated overseas and legal issues. Therefore, even though we have already reached our initial target, the public’s continuous participation and support will be greatly appreciated. The more money we can raise, the more work we can do in pursuing CY’s case.
 
Hong Kong is becoming increasingly unjust – those in power do everything they can to keep the truth from being told, and as a result it is harder to distinguish what is right from wrong. With the funds we have now raised, the public has given us the tools and we will do our best to use those tools finish the job. As we are now investigating the vice chairman of China’s top advisory body, it will be an uphill battle. Nevertheless, we will be accountable to the public and we will ensure the highest level of transparency regarding the details of the work and funds. With the public’s trust, regardless of the pressure coming our way, we will fight this long battle with friends from various professional sectors, as well as members of the Hong Kong public in our search of the truth regarding CY Leung’s UGL case.