A five-member panel will be set up to look into the complaints made against Zhang Xiang, the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the institution's governing body said on Monday.

The announcement to form a panel under the university's "whistle-blowing" policy and procedures followed a special council meeting on the matter.

The panel, to be headed by the university's audit committee chairman and lawmaker Jimmy Ng, will report to the council within 12 weeks.

The governing body will then consider if follow-up action is necessary.

Joining Ng on the panel are council members Brian Stevenson and Jason Chiu, and two non-council members to be appointed by the governing body.

Chairwoman of the HKU Council, Priscilla Wong, said the panel will handle the matter "in the most serious and responsible manner" to meet the high expectations of various stakeholders.

"It is the responsibility of the Council, as the supreme governing body of the university, to handle whistle-blowing matters fairly and impartially. The panel will uphold our motto Sapientia et Virtus, or the spirit of 'mingde' 'gewu' in Chinese, to look into the allegations fairly and impartially," Wong said in a statement.

"The panel will establish their findings through evidence-based investigation in an unbiased manner to ensure the conclusion is fair."

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Wong stressed no action has been taken against Zhang.

"The president is still our president. We do not have any assumptions at the moment. We will handle the complaints and we will take action until we find out the truth," she said.

Zhang said in a statement that his lawyers have reviewed the documents relating to the matter and determined that the accusations against him were "baseless and maliciously fabricated".

He also said what disappointed him the most was that the communication between him and council had been leaked, noting that the university had received media inquiries just one hour after his lawyer sent an email to the council's secretary requesting to postpone a special meeting scheduled for last week.

Zhang said it raised concerns about potential unauthorised disclosure by certain council members.

"I truly hope that this incident will be handled by the panel in a fair and just manner, allowing everyone to see the truth and exonerating the innocent," he added.

Council member Charles Li, former chief executive of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, said the university has been "in a lot of hurt".

"Before the investigation runs its full course, we should all unite, supporting the university, supporting its faculties, supporting its students, and not to rush to judgement yet," he said.

Ahead of the meeting, Casey Chik, a student representative on the council, said if evidence showed possible wrongdoing, it was worth considering suspending Zhang from his duties. But Chik added other factors should be taken into consideration as well, such as who would act as president should Zhang be suspended.
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Last updated: 2023-10-09 HKT 22:45