March 11, 1999
Web posted at: 2:36 a.m. EST (0736 GMT)

HONG KONG (CNN) -- A crisis of confidence against Hong Kong's top justice official forced debate in the legislature Thursday -- the first against a senior official since the territory's return to Chinese rule.

The debate, questioning the handling of China-sensitive issues by Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung, is unlikely to result in her sacking but exposes grass-roots concerns in Hong Kong.

The no-confidence motion comes as the South China Morning Post reported that Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa asked property developers to pressure Liberal Party legislators to vote against the motion. Property developers are the main backers of the Liberal Party.

The Liberals had previously expressed support for the motion but later opted to abstain, the Post reported.

The 60-seat legislature is dominated by pro-Beijing and pro- business lawmakers and a vote against Leung by Liberals would have been perceived a blight on Hong Kong's image.

The motion followed Leung's decision last year not to prosecute pro-China publishing tycoon Sally Aw. Leung cited insufficient evidence and "public interest."

Aw was named last year in fraud charges against three employees of her newspapers.

A Hong Kong court found the three guilty in January and sentenced them to between four and six months for conspiring to defraud advertising clients by inflating circulation figures of the Hong Kong Standard and Sunday Standard newspapers and false accounting offenses.

Aw, a friend of Tung and a member of a Beijing parliamentary body, was named in a police charge sheet as having conspired with the three but was not charged or prosecuted.

Leung has also come under intense criticism in recent months for her refusal to seek the return of criminals from China.

If passed, the motion would be a slap in the government's face but would not end in Leung's dismissal. Lawmakers are not empowered to sack senior government officials, appointed by Beijing on the recommendation of Tung.

Tung's performance is not highly rated by Hong Kong people when compared with seven British governors that preceded him, a survey by Hong Kong's Lingnan College showed on Thursday.

Sir David Wilson was rated the best leader followed by Edward Youde and Chris Patten, the last governor. Patten was vilified by China for his democratic reform in the dying days of British colonial rule. Tung was ranked fourth.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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