The Legislative Council will not claw back as much as HK$12 million in salaries paid to four legislators disqualified for improper oath-taking.

The consensus was reached in a LegCo Commission meeting and followed legal advice. 

The former lawmakers – “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, Lau Siu-lai, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Edward Yiu Chung-yim – were disqualified last year over their improper oath-taking in 2016.

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Their salaries amounted to HK$12 million.

LegCo President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen explained the arrangement was made with reference to legal advice from the government. 

Leung noted the commission had a legal basis to pursue the salaries but it will be unreasonable to spend millions in public money on the cases.

The commission did request the four former legislators to return previously paid operating expenses, computers and smartphones purchased for their LegCo offices before a designated date. The four will each have to pay HK$190,000 to HK$310,000.

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Leung said the resolution could be understood as a reconciliation agreement between LegCo and the former legislators but the decision was not meant as a gesture of goodwill. If they fail to repay the amounts, the commission will still initiate legal action to recover the expenditures.