Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and his family, alongside the Airport Authority, released statements on Thursday denying an incident in which the Chief Executive used his privileges to help his daughter bypass security rules to retrieve a forgotten hand carry luggage at the Hong Kong International Airport. Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau called for an investigation on Friday morning and for witnesses to come forward.
The Chief Executive added that he “did not request any one to ‘address me as Chief Executive Leung’ and did not exercise any privilege” on March 28, the night of the incident. He also said that he “did not have any contact with Airport Authority officials, let alone exerting pressure on them.”
The Chief Executive’s wife, Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee and her daughter Leung Chung-yan released a joint statement saying that Leung Chung-yan did not ask the Chief Executive for help, and the Chief Executive only called that night to say goodbye to her.
The statement also said that Regina Leung did not enter the restricted or boarding gates area and stayed in the departure hall to send Leung Chung-yan off.
Meanwhile, the Airport Authority also denied that the procedure was against existing airport security procedure in a statement.
It said that the airline staff had retrieved the hand carry luggage from airport security and brought the luggage through security check, into the restricted area before handing it to the passenger in question.
‘Investigation’
Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau called for an investigation on RTHK’s Hong Kong Today on Friday morning.
“Since the versions are so different, and it affects the chief executive and his conduct, so it is very important for the administration to come out and tell us, after they have made investigations, and tell us exactly what happened, what the facts are. And there are people everywhere on that occasion, so it is not difficult to find witnesses,” she said.
According to RTHK, Starry Lee Wai-king, pro-establishment lawmaker, said that nobody should have special privileges and public figures should understand that expectations of them are high. Lee also said that she thought that the Chief Executive’s statement was not sufficient to clear questions and urged him to speak to the media directly.
The Hong Kong Cabin Crew Federation urged the Airport Authority to publicise an official version of the airport’s security procedures, according to Ming Pao.
Correction 12:13pm: A previous version of the article stated that the Hong Kong Flight Attendants Alliance urged the Airport Authority to publicise the airport’s security procedures. In fact, it was the Hong Kong Cabin Crew Federation.
