Hong Kong justice chief urges staff to report sources of claims against top prosecutor

“A Hong Kong official has confirmed that the justice minister sent an internal memo urging department staff to provide information on the sources of allegations of a top government prosecutor’s misconduct . Department of Justice. Photo: GovHK. Deputy Secretary for Justice Horace Cheung confirmed on Wednesday the existence of the internal memo sent by Secretary for Justice Paul Lam on Tuesday. Cheung also warned the media against asking about unsubstantiated claims, lest such questions fuel those accusations. Continuing to ask about the “unsubstantiated allegations… would only fuel those accusations,” he said, Ming Pao reported . Cheung appeared to be referring to overseas activist Frances Hui’s allegations that Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Chau used public funds to pursue a romance with a female subordinate. Hong Kong authorities have since slammed the viral claims, saying the allegations amounted to “malicious smearing.” ‘Unsubstantiated’ In the English-language memo, which circulated on social media, Lam told Department of Justice (DoJ) staff, saying that he knew messages containing “unsubstantiated allegations against the colleagues involved had been widely circulated both within and outside DoJ.” Secretary for Justice Paul Lam delivers an opening remark at the National Security Legal Forum, held by the Department of Justice, on April 15, 2026. Photo: GovHK. “I am most alarmed that those allegations were allegedly based on information provided by ‘insiders’. I have to say that I will be very upset and disappointed if this was true,” he wrote. Echoing an earlier DoJ statement on Saturday, the justice chief said the matter had been reported to the police and that actions would be taken “if necessary depending on the result of the investigations.” He also requested that DoJ staff not republish “any message containing those allegations” against Chau, reaffirm the department’s stance if asked about the matter, and disclose any “useful information concerning the source of the allegations” to the department. Lam also said that the DoJ “always requires its staff to uphold utmost integrity” and that the department has procedures for colleagues to raise concerns and make complaints against suspected misconduct, adding that anonymous complaints would be “unhelpful.” Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Chau. Photo: GovHK. Neither Lam nor Cheung said whether the department would look into the misconduct allegations against Chau. Cheung also told journalists on Wednesday that he would not comment further on the incident to avoid “encouraging unhealthy trends.” In an e-mail response to HKFP’s enquiry, the DoJ confirmed the existence of the memo but said it “has no further comment to make on the matter.” Chau was the prosecutor in high-profile national security cases, such as those involving the 47 democrats and pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai. The DoJ also said on Saturday that the allegations against Chau “are completely without factual basis, entirely fabricated, and constitute malicious smearing.” “It is ill-intentioned for someone to maliciously spread rumours online… and to deliberately smear dedicated prosecutors who perform duties in safeguarding national security,” the statement read.

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