Legal nightmare looms for birthday party restaurant

A Wan Chai restaurant where a Covid-hit birthday party was attended by 14 government officials, 20 lawmakers and at least 180 others will likely be sued for allegedly breaching pandemic rules.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the party at Reserva Iberica Tapas Bar & Restaurant at Causeway Centre - where Witman Hung Wai-man, a representative for Hong Kong at the Shenzhen Qianhai Authority, celebrated his 53rd birthday - exceeded its capacity limit and is suspected to have broken other rules.

Lam said the party was a "most unfortunate event" because as many as 214 people attended it. She added: "This is, in my view, well beyond the capacity of this restaurant.

"I'm sure the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will shortly release the results of a preliminary investigation, like whether this restaurant could actually legally operate this sort of gathering."

Lam said the party was an example of noncompliance with social distancing measures and authorities are still investigating whether the venue fulfilled the requirements of a type D restaurant.

"A type D restaurant has a lot of requirements. For example, yes, it is allowed to operate in full capacity, but could this restaurant take in 200 people at the same time?" Lam said.

"I have not been to the restaurant but some reporters have shown photos and measured the size. It could hardly take in 200 customers."

The FEHD will also investigate whether all guests used the LeaveHomeSafe app and if two-thirds of them have been vaccinated, Lam said.

She said the 14 government officials who attended - including Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, who is in quarantine at Penny's Bay - will be investigated for misconduct, with possible disciplinary actions to follow. But Lam appealed to the public not to blame certain people for the local outbreak.

"There is no point to say who is at fault and who is the source of all these problems because problems will occur as we continue to fight the epidemic. Non-compliance will happen," she said.

"Nobody could aim for - I could not aim for - 100 percent compliance and put everybody in an absolutely safe environment. But the importance is we maintain the vigilance to enforce and we punish people who fail to comply by issuing penalties and taking them to court and other things."

Lam also defended herself against claims of double standards by Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong chief Raymond Young Lap-moon, who wrote in a newspaper that he had seen her at a wedding banquet of a former group official.

Two people at the party have so far been confirmed with Omicron - including the association's 37-year-old youth committee member Celia Wong Sze-nga.

Lam said the banquet she attended was held before the Omicron cluster at Moon Palace in Festival Walk broke out on December 30.

She said she spent around 10 minutes greeting and congratulating the host of the wedding.

"The pandemic was under control before December 30 and we were celebrating Christmas and preparing for the border reopening with the mainland. I did attend lots of gatherings, but most of them - 99 percent - were official gatherings," Lam said.

"I hope people can be fair.

"You could have also seen me [dining] with others in December.

"But the key date is December 30 - when Omicron cases started to appear in the community."

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com

Editorial: Rare critics over 'party-gate'