Hong Kong lawmaker detained over graft charges

Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) arrested on Thursday a lawmaker from an anti-China party for having failed to declare a sum of money he received from a millionaire, who headed a media conglomerate critical of Beijing.

League of Social Democrats lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung was arrested from his house on Thursday morning by an anti-corruption agency team for accepting a sum of 250,000 Hong Kong dollars ($32,231) from one of millionaire Jimmy Lai's assistant in May 2012 and not declaring it in the Hong Kong Parliament as stipulated by law, EFE news reported.

Jimmy was then heading Next Media Limited, a media conglomerate whose publications included Apple Daily, a newspaper well-known for being highly critical of the Chinese regime.

An ICAC statement said the 60-year-old lawmaker, who was later released on bail, was charged with misconduct in public office and is set to appear before a judge on Friday.

The incident comes weeks before the beginning of lawmakers' nominations for elections to the Hong Kong legislature, slated to be held in September.

These are the first legislative elections in the former British colony since the eruption of pro-democracy and anti-China protests, termed the Umbrella Revolution, between September and December 2014 in the city.

--IANS

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