File Photo: VCG

 
Hong Kong pro-establishment lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu denounced Luke de Pulford and the UK’s Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on Thursday after a letter was published by the British anti-China figure on his Twitter account suggesting Ho was supposed to attend a hearing by the tribunal in December and would risk losing his qualification of practicing law in the UK given his political stance. 

“It’s absolutely irresponsible to disclose such confidential information about the hearing,” Ho told the Global Times when he referred to the tribunal for sharing such information with an irrelevant person. 

De Pulford, who is a member of the British Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission, has been provocative on a series of China-related issues including Hong Kong and Xinjiang. He also colluded with Hong Kong secessionist Nathan Law Kwun-chung to initiate a probe into senior Hong Kong officials. 

 “He [de Pulford] was also working behind the scenes of the British university Anglia Ruskin University stripping my honorary degree,” Ho said, noting that in November 2019, the British politician also ran in the district where Ho was vying for a district council seat. 
 
“He interferes not only in academic freedom but also in the independence of the legal system,” Ho said, adding that the China hawk also interfered in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s district election last year and even in the internal affairs of China. 

Also, the tribunal should not have disclosed such confidential information concerning the hearing to a third-party individual, which was not in line with rules and regulations, Ho noted. “It’s purely a political maneuver,” Ho told the Global Times. 

The tribunal is to hear and determine applications in respect of solicitors concerning allegations of professional misconduct or breaches of professional practice rules. 

The Hong Kong lawmaker has been outspoken in criticizing anti-government forces in Hong Kong, which collude with foreign forces in meddling in Hong Kong affairs, people instigating hatred toward the HKSAR government and the Chinese mainland and plotting a “color revolution” in the city. As a high-profile critic of those forces, Ho has also become a prime target of opposition groups. Ho was even stabbed last November ahead of the district election. 

“The confidential period for this hearing is until October 7, such a leak of information is highly irresponsible,” Ho said. 

He also told the Global Times even if the tribunal in London removes him from the UK register, it won’t have any impact on his career as he practices the law in the UK. Ho owns lawyers' licenses in three places including Hong Kong SAR, Singapore and the UK.