Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam rejected a Bar Association nominee to a discreet panel that selects the city's judges, according to a statement on Friday from the barristers' body, appointing instead the Bar's new chairman in an unprecedented switch.
The nomination of senior commercial barrister Victor Dawes, elected Bar chairman in January, was made after Lam in February sought another nominee instead of Neville Sarony, a veteran barrister put forward by the Bar in August last year, the Bar Association statement said.
It was the first confirmation of the delay, also unprecedented, surrounding Sarony's nomination, reported by Reuters in January.
The work of the panel, known as the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission (JORC), is being closely monitored by lawyers, scholars and diplomats amid concerns over judicial independence in the global financial hub.
The Bar statement said Dawes was the best candidate and that "the Bar Council believes it is in the public interest for a member of the Bar to be appointed to JORC without further delay."
The Hong Kong government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Greg Torode; Additional reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
