Liang Jichang

Kenneth Leung Kai‑cheong (born 17 October 1962) is a Hong Kong politician and member of the Professional Forum. He is a qualified accountant and lawyer, specializing in tax. In September 2012 he was elected to the Legislative Council for the Accountancy functional constituency. On 11 November 2020, the Hong Kong SAR Government announced that under the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress decision, he had immediately lost his Legislative Council seat.

Biography

Kenneth Leung graduated from Rosaryhill School Primary Section in 1974 and attended Queen’s College. He earned a diploma in accountancy from the Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute, and in 1987 received a BSc (Economics) and in 1992 an LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Science. From 1987 to 1993 he worked at Coopers & Lybrand in the UK, then returned to Hong Kong in 1995 to serve as Senior Consultant and establish the tax department at a law firm.

During the 1989 Beijing democracy movement, he participated in solidarity demonstrations at the Chinese Embassy in London.

In 2007, he co‑founded the Public Professionals Alliance, a pro‑democracy think tank, and has written political columns for newspapers. He has served on the Hong Kong Housing Authority and as an accounting subsector member of the Election Committee.

He is married with one son and one daughter.

Legislative Council career

In the 2012 election, incumbent Chan Mo‑po vacated the accountancy seat to join the government. Kenneth Leung ran on the platform “Defend Core Values, Improve Quality of Life” and on 9 September 2012 was elected with 7,701 votes, defeating three rivals backed by the Development Secretary.

In the 2016 election he was re‑elected with 12,131 votes. On 25 September he formed the Professional Forum with five other professionals to strengthen cooperation across professional constituencies without binding political stances.

Rates remission issue

In 2018/19 the top ten property owners in Hong Kong enjoyed HK$256.5 million in rates remission across 40,000 properties. The government proposed limiting each person to one remission unit. Leung moved a non‑binding motion to postpone study of the proposal, which was carried.

US lobbying during 2019 protests

During the 2019 Hong Kong protests, Leung travelled to the US with Alvin Yeung and Jeremy Tam to lobby for sanctions on Hong Kong officials.

Disqualification by NPCSC decision

On 11 November 2020 the HKSAR Government announced that under the National People’s Congress Standing Committee decision, four pro‑democracy legislators, including Kenneth Leung, had their seats vacated as of 30 July 2020.

During the 2021 LegCo election, despite being disqualified, Leung campaigned for accountancy candidate Edward Yong, a self‑described centrist who had previously assisted pro‑establishment figures.

Controversies

In May 2013, a spoof article by activist Apple Mao on a Facebook group was mistakenly attributed by Wen Wei Po to Kenneth Leung, falsely accusing him of calling the Occupy Central movement an “internal fight”. The paper later retracted the story.

In a November 2020 interview, Leung expressed concern that the “Lantau Tomorrow Vision” infrastructure project might be passed swiftly in LegCo despite his disqualification.

Education

• Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute, Diploma in Accountancy (1984)
• London School of Economics and Political Science, BSc (Economics) (1987)
• London School of Economics and Political Science, LLM (1992)

Professional qualifications

• Fellow, Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• Fellow, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK)
• Hong Kong Registered Tax Representative
• Chartered Tax Adviser (UK)
• Solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong; England & Wales

Public service

• Vice‑Chairman, Public Professionals Alliance (2007)
• Member, Hong Kong Housing Authority (2007)
• Member, Estate Agents Authority (2010)
• Member, Independent Police Complaints Council (2011)
• Chairman, Tax Policy Committee, Taxation Institute of Hong Kong (2008)
• Member, Joint Liaison Group on Taxation (2007)
• Member, Tax Committee, Alternative Investment Management Association Hong Kong (2007)

External links

• http://kennethleung.hk — Office of Kenneth Leung
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kennethleung.legco
• Archived LegCo profile (2014)
• Public Professionals Alliance website