Selina Chow, vice-chairman of the Liberal Party, on Wednesday urged the Civic Party to spell out its role in the legal challenge to the construction of the Hong Kong-Macao-Zhuhai Bridge that wound up delaying the project.

The Liberal Party, in a press release, asked whether the Civic Party should in fact be held responsible for the delay. The government has claimed that the work stoppage as a result of the judicial review is likely to cost Hong Kong taxpayers up to HK$6.5 billion.

Chow said the Civic Party should explain legal opinions it had offered to the complainant and whether it had instigated her to file the case. She also voiced concerns about whether the party was politicizing the case and if it had sought profit from the judicial review.

The Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision and gave the green light for the bridge project on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chu Yee-wah, the Tung Chung public housing resident who launched the petition for a judicial review for an environmental impact assessment of the bridge, said before TV cameras that she actually knew very little about the facts and was prompted by someone to undertake the action.

But the 66-year-old woman refused to further name any persons.

She decided to stop the litigation and not to appeal.

Many core members of the Civic Party have made contradictory statements about their role in the case, observed Chow.

Alan Wong, one of the lawyers who submitted the petition on behalf of Chu and an executive member of the Civic Party, said he had never heard anything about "anyone behind Chu" in putting forward a petition.

However, Chow noted, Wong also said Chu would often listen to legal advice before she decided whether to carry out the litigation.

Chow also cited Albert Lai, vice-chairman of the Civic Party, as having claimed that the party was not involved in the case "from the beginning till the end".

However, Chow said, Alan Leong, the party leader, had admitted that the party did offer counseling, on a district level, to Chu, who was a volunteer for the Civic Party.

A variety of members of the Civic Party have been actively engaged in judicial review cases, but as a political group, the Civic Party should not evade making its role clear to the public, Chow said, otherwise, the Civic Party would be "underestimating the wisdom of citizens".

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/29/2011 page1)