In a highly unusual move that raised eyebrows in legal circles, the Department of Justice has gone public with details of an internal dispute involving a former magistrate who made a criminal complaint against Hong Kong’s top judge and two senior magistrates he accused of perverting the course of justice.
The department issued a statement late last night giving a full account of the row as it announced that no action would be taken against Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li, Chief Magistrate Clement Lee Hing-nin, and Principal Magistrate Bernadette Woo Huey-fang, following an investigation into former Eastern Court magistrate Symon Wong Yu-wing’s criminal complaint against them.
Former Eastern Court magistrate Symon Wong Yu-wing.“The director of public prosecutions has concluded that the complaint disclosed, both in law and in fact, no possible criminal offence against any of the persons Mr Wong complained against, and the police have been so advised,” the statement read.
The row stemmed from a dangerous drugs case in July last year when Wong, as the presiding magistrate, had adjourned proceedings while revoking the defendant’s bail.
The bail application was then held before Deputy High Court Judge Mr Michael Stuart-Moore, who granted bail and criticised Wong for revoking it.
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Wong then complained by email to the chief justice and demanded an investigation. The email was also copied to the two magistrates.
One of them, Woo, advised Wong to soften his tone, which he agreed to do, in addition to allowing “a very capable” person to draft a letter for him. But Wong was unhappy that the draft letter addressed to Lee had him apologising for his original complaint and accepting responsibility for revoking bail.
The Justice Department described Woo as a “good friend” of Wong at the time.
The draft letter, minus the apology, was later forwarded to the chief justice, but Wong complained that the letter had actually been drafted by Lee.
In April this year, he filed a criminal complaint against all three of them.
Last night the Justice Department said it had carefully considered all the available evidence, including Wong’s testimony to police, and concluded no criminal offence had taken place.
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