Vehicle seen ferrying Hung Hom voters belonged to campaign team of DAB candidate Daniel Lam Tak-shing, but lawyers say evidence insufficient to prove any laws broken
JEFFIE.LAM@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Monday, 18 January, 2016, 5:45pm
UPDATED : Monday, 18 January, 2016, 5:45pm
Elderly residents of Kam Ma Home of Aged in Hung Hom were taken in a van to a polling station. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A van seen contentiously ferrying residents of an elderly care home in Hung Hom to a nearby polling station during November’s district council elections has been confirmed as belonging to the campaigning team of a pro-establishment candidate who eventually won the voting race in the area.
But a lawyer said the evidence would be insufficient to prove Daniel Lam Tak-shing, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, violated the electoral law on bribery, despite a caretaker of the care home having earlier confirmed the Beijing-loyalist had been regularly dishing out gifts to the residents ahead of the poll.
According to electoral expenses claims filed by the candidates, Lam, who unseated pan-democrat Pius Yum Kwok-tung in Hung Hom constituency, declared spending of HK$200 on petrol on polling day for a vehicle bearing the number plate that transported the voters.
The Post earlier exposed how elderly residents of Kam Ma Home of Aged in Hung Hom were taken in a van to the voting station by several people who claimed to be “volunteers”.
While a man was seen giving each of the elderly residents their identity card before they entered the polling station, another man, who was seen holding what appeared to be a list of voters, was later seen inside the DAB’s nearby office.
The confirmation of the vehicle’s identity makes clear Lam’s team was behind the ferrying service, which sparked debate in the city about electoral laws and ethics after some feared elderly residents could have been manipulated, if not bribed, into casting votes. On polling day a number of residents of the care home told the Post they would vote according to the advice of “volunteers”.
Lam refused to confirm or deny he had ferried elderly residents to a polling station and did not respond to suggestions he had engaged in vote-buying.
“I have nothing to add at the moment,” Lam said when confronted by a Post reporter on Thursday near his office in Hung Hom.
READ MORE: Exposed: Pro-establishment supporters bussed elderly people to polling stations
The 33-year-old Beijing-loyalist had previously hung up the phone after saying he was “busy” whenever approached by the Post.
A caretaker at Kam Ma Home of Aged surnamed Shing earlier confirmed Lam had been regularly visiting the centre for half a year ahead of the election, handing out presents and helping residents registering as voters.
It is illegal to offer any benefits to induce people to vote, not to vote or vote for a specific candidate, according to the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance.
Solicitor Vitus Leung Wing-hang said it would be hard to prove Lam had breached electoral laws unless there was evidence showing the ferried voters were induced to vote for a specific candidate.
Barrister Stephen Char Shik-ngor, the former chief investigator of the city’s graft-buster, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, said however that there was already reasonable doubt to suggest Lam had violated electoral laws.
“It is not the duty of the complainant to gather evidence, but the ICAC,” said Char, who served the watchdog for 28 years. “Or else what do we need the watchdog for?”
Yum, the outgoing Hung Hom district councillor, who lost to Lam by 371 votes, said the grey area in the electoral law had made it difficult to secure convictions even though candidates had appeared to have offered an advantage to potential voters in exchange for votes.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1902335/vote-buying-fears-renewed-after-van-took-elderly-residents
