Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog is accusing former pro-democracy legislator Lam Cheuk-ting of failing to use land records obtained from the Land Registry for standard purposes that govern data searches.

In a letter to Lam on Monday, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data said that his use of the records was not to check property ownership or prevent secret or fraudulent property transfers, and therefore he had deviated from the registry’s purposes.

Lam had instead used the records to determine the relations between pro-Beijing district councilor Christine Fong and one of her donors, the office said. His usage “apparently bears no direct links to the original purposes of the Land Registry’s search service,” it alleged.

The watchdog also asked Lam to remove a video about Fong that he had posted onto social media, citing a request from the district councilor.

Lam told reporters on Tuesday that the privacy office was creating new interpretations of the rules on land records searches to deprive reporters and other Hongkongers of their access to information.

He drew a parallel to the case of RTHK producer Bao Choy, who was earlier arrested for making false statements, by using vehicle license information obtained from the government’s Transport Department in a documentary on the Yuen Long mob attack last year.

“How can we keep our eyes on potential scandals in our community and uncover the intertwined relations among bad people?” he questioned.

Lam was told by the watchdog that it would transfer his case to police for a criminal investigation if complaints against him were found to be valid and if he continued to refuse to remove the video in question.

A criminal investigation could lead to a charge that carried up to two years in jail and a HK$50,000 fine upon conviction, Lam said.

The former lawmaker said he had no plan to remove the video. He said he did not name Christine Fong in it, but only mentioned that the property in his land registry search was owned by two people, both surnamed Fong.

Lam has cast doubt on the sources of donations which Fong claims to have received to offset HK$900,000 (US$116,100) in expenses incurred in the now-postponed Legislative Council election. On Fong’s declaration documents, only HK$246,000 of her spending was supported by receipts. Lam has asked Fong to provide all receipts.

The privacy watchdog’s move was shocking and could affect people who used land registry data to collect debts, lawyer Albert Ho said.

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