Tanya Chan acquitted over bar gathering case

Former lawmaker Tanya Chan has been found not guilty on Friday at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts after she was accused to have breached the social gathering cap over a meeting inside a Mong Kok bar in April last year.

She had previously denied the charge alongside three co-defendants, including a catering association's convener, Gordon Lam Sui-wa.

The two were each charged with taking part in a prohibited group gathering from April 2 to 3 this year in a bar called Hands on Tai Nan Street in Mong Kok.

The court earlier heard that the meeting was to discuss actions following the government shutting down all the bars in the city at that time due to the coronavirus, with Chan invited for her knowledge in politics and law, which might help with the meeting.

Handing down his verdict, magistrate Cheng Lim-chi said it is understandable for the industry to hold meetings at that time to discuss their business.

Cheng also said he has reasons to believe that Chan and Lam were present at the meeting to explain the government’s Covid rules to the industry.

Although they have consumed alcohol within the bar, that does not change the purpose of the meeting, of which the meeting is for imparting information or skills that are conducive to the prevention and control of the specified disease, thus, exempted from the gathering ban, according to Cheng.

However, Chan Wai-choi, who was in charge of the bar, was found guilty of failure to comply with directions for catering business operators by allegedly letting people enter the bar without taking their temperature and allowing more than four persons share a table.

He was ordered a fine of HK$5,000.