Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joshua Law, at a media stand-up after the Legislative Council (LegCo) Finance Committee meeting this morning (January 10):

Reporter: ... and secondly on the Finance Committee dealing with the civil service pay rise, will you seek other ways trying to deal with the matter in LegCo?

Secretary for the Civil Service: First of all on the Finance Committee item, it is important for us to adhere to the established mechanism. I would hope that members of the LegCo will respect this and as soon as possible if they could go into detailed discussion of the item. Then we can have an early decision from the LegCo.

Reporter: ...any disciplinary actions for those arrested civil servants? Would you sack them or penalise them?

Secretary for the Civil Service: As I've said, at this stage, the civil servants who had been arrested, out of the 41 arrested, 31 of them have been interdicted, so they have been suspended from service. In the event that they are convicted by the court, then we will initiate disciplinary action. And the result could be a sacking or could be a warning, depending on the severity of the punishment.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Friday, January 10, 2020
Issued at HKT 13:53

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