which the publishing tycoon was not prosecuted for a fraud plot involving her company although she was named as a conspirator in the charges. Tong sat as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2002. Early political career He ran in the 2002 Election Committee Subsector by-elections in the Legal sub-sector, which was responsible for electing the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the 2002 election. In 2002, he co-founded the Article 23 Concern Group with former Bar Association chairmen Audrey Eu Yuet-mee and Alan Leong Kah-kit, to oppose the government's attempt to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law, which they believed posed a threat to civil liberties and basic freedoms. He entered the spotlight as a legal expert when half a million Hong Kong people took to the streets in 2003 to protest against the proposed Article 23 anti-subversion bill that was later shelved. After 1 July protest, the group transformed into the Article 45 Concern Group to call for universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008, as required under Article 45 of the Basic Law. Legislative Councillor In the 2004 Legislative Council election, he and fellow barristers from the group Audrey Eu Yuet-mee and Alan Leong Kah-kit ran for the geographical constituency direct elections. Tong combined with the other pro-democrats with a joint list in the New Territories East, where he was placed behind the Democratic Party's Andrew Cheng Kar-foo and The Frontier's Emily Lau Wai-hing. The list received more than 160,000 votes which Cheng, Lau and Tong were elected. In March 2006, he and members of the Article 45 Concern Group co-founded the Civic Party and he became a member of the party's executive committee. In the 2008 and 2012 Legislative Council elections, he was re-elected to represent New Territories East. In the 2011 District Council election, he ran in the City One hoping for entering the new District Council (Second) constituency race created under the 2012 constitutional reform package but was defeated by pro-Beijing independent Wong Ka-wing. 2010 electoral reform As a moderate pan-democrat, Tong opposed the party's decision in January 2010 to join the "Five Constituencies Referendum", in which five democratic legislators, representative of the bloc, resigned and re-stood in their constituencies as a de facto referendum over the 2012 constitutional reform package, an action that was heavily criticised by Beijing. Tong intended to vote for the modified reform package, but was required to vote with