A foundation for Hong Kong and Australian lawyers is reeling from resignations after two members were shown in lewd photos at a Beijing karaoke bar last week.
Honorary consultant Maria Tam, a Hong Kong deputy to China’s legislature, resigned Monday “with immediate effect”, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reports, citing the China-Australia Legal Exchange Foundation.
Damien Shea, who serves on China’s highest political consultative body, and Raymond Yung, a senior assistant commissioner of Hong Kong Road Safety Patrol, also quit.
All three were on a 37-member delegation that traveled to the mainland last week to attend an event for “One Belt, One Road”, China’s grand plan to create an Asia-Europe economic corridor.
The delegation met with several senior officials including Zhang Rongshun, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Basic Law Committee.
The foundation did not give any reasons for the resignations but reports say these might have been linked to a visit by Shea and Yung to a karaoke bar.
Ming Pao Daily says it received several dozen photographs purporting to show Shea and Yung with scantily clad karaoke hostesses.
The two reportedly hit up the karaoke joint three nights in a row.
One photo shows a close-up of a woman’s breasts. Another has a woman touching a man’s crotch.
Shea told Ming Pao he was at the karaoke joint with friends and his actions had nothing to do with the foundation.
Yung said his visit to the karaoke bar was a social engagement after initially denying he was part of the group.
He later clarified to Ming Pao that the women in the photos were showgirls who performed for tips.
Foundation chairman Lawrence Ma of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said members were free to do whatever they pleased after 8 p.m. during the three-day visit.
But fellow lawmaker Priscilla Leung of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong who also went with the delegation, said the behavior of Shea and Yung was unacceptable.
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