Ex-Lawmaker Arrested by ICAC

Lam (left) talks to an ICAC officer at his home this morning

It is becoming harder and harder to comprehend what is happening in Hong Kong with the victims being charged as perpetrators. There is no respite for those who are asking for the truth.

The city's rule of law continues to deteriorate with the arrest of former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting this morning for allegedly revealing the name of a person under investigation by the ICAC, or Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Three ICAC officers enter Lam's home

Three ICAC officers showed up at Lam's home to tell him he was under arrest.

The irony is that Lam was previously an ICAC investigative officer himself, and told the trio the commission had become a "tool for political persecution".

"We both graduated from cadet school and know the law," he said to them. "You are interpreting the law in this way for purely political reasons. My arrest today clearly marks the fall of the ICAC and also demonstrates the fall of Hong Kong."

White-shirted men attacked MTR passengers

The person under investigation is allegedly linked to the Yuen Long mob attack on July 21 last year.

Lam was taken from his home and later appeared at Eastern Magistracy wearing a T-shirt with the ICAC logo on it.

The case was adjourned until early March and he was released on bail for HK$2,000.

If Lam is convicted of disclosing details of an ongoing ICAC investigation, or identify those under investigation, he could face up to one year in prison and a HK$20,000 fine.

To add insult to injury, on July 21 last year, he was one of dozens of people who were attacked in the MTR train by men in white shirts with sticks -- Lam sustained injuries to his mouth that required 18 stitches -- and yet he was charged with rioting. He had gone to Yuen Long that night to find out what was going on.

Lam refuses to hold an independent inquiry

Hongkongers have asked for an independent inquiry into the protests and yet Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor refuses to do so. 

Instead the government and the police are presenting another narrative of what happened that night in Yuen Long, and arresting those who were witnesses, arresting journalists who are trying to find out  more information, and barring any possibility of a independent inquiry so needed to heal divisions in the city.

It is a lost opportunity gone forever.