Official breaks silence over groups' definition
POLITICAL organisations were defined for the first time yesterday by a senior government official, who described them as groups with an aim to be elected to the territory's three tiers of Government.
The Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Mr Michael Sze Cho-cheung gave the definition after repeated questions from legislator Mr Jimmy McGregor on how the administration determined whether organisations were political or not.
He said the best answer was to interpret the word ''in its ordinary meaning''.
But Mr Sze reiterated that the Government had no plans to enact laws to require political groups to disclose the source of their financial sponsorship or particulars of their expenditure.
Asked by legislator Miss Emily Lau Wai-hing if the Government thought it was acceptable for political groups to receive overseas donations without having to disclose them, Mr Sze said he did not want to make a moral judgement on the issue.
He pointed out that at present, other than two exceptions, there was no requirement for political organisations to disclose to the Government details of donations received.
The first exception was political groups under the Companies Ordinance, which had to file with the Registrar of Companies audited income and expenditure accounts every year.
The other was political organisations permitted by the Secretary for Home Affairs under the Summary Offences Ordinance to raise funds for non-charitable purposes in public places were required to submit their audited accounts.
