Prosecution describes contents of emails and letter allegedly sent by accused to Leung Chun-ying and ICAC head Simon Peh
CHRIS.LAU@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 07 January, 2016, 11:47am
UPDATED : Thursday, 07 January, 2016, 11:54am
Controversial businessman Lew Mon-hung admitted the signature on the letter belonged to him. Photo: Dickson Lee.
Controversial businessman Lew Mon-hung threatened to drop a “political bomb” on chief executive Leung Chun-ying if the latter did not stop an investigation on him, an email and letter Lew allegedly wrote to Leung said.
Senior public prosecutor Anna Lai alleged that in the email, Lew explained his role in a High Court case he was involved in last year concerning him as the vice-president and executive director of listed company Pearl Oriental Oil, claiming he was innocent.
He then claimed he was described by the media as a “patriotic soldier” and that Leung should stop the unreasonable persecution against him, Lai said.
The letter said that Leung once allegedly promised Lew: “I wouldn’t use you and dump you, Mon-hung.” Lew was a former supporter of the chief executive, though the two later had a falling out.
An email with similar content was allegedly sent to Independent Commission Against Corruption head Simon Peh Yun-lu, who, on top of the content Leung received, was informed of Leung’s promise and told that Lew once solved a crisis for the chief executive.
Lai said Lew allegedly wrote that he would release an exposé about Leung to local and foreign media if the investigation was not halted.
Lew, 67, pleaded not guilty to one count of perverting the course of public justice.
In the letter sent to Leung and copied to Peh later, Lew allegedly cited Mao Zedong as saying: “I shall strike when I am struck.” He also cited Chinese writer Lu Xun’s “an eye for an eye”, Lai said.
The businessman wrote, Lai alleged, that his reputation and political acclaim had been put on the line.
Lew admitted the signature on the letter belonged to him, the court heard.
On Thursday, judge Frankie Yiu Fun-chee ruled that there was no need to amend the charge as the defence lawyers requested, to separate the charges into two, with one concerning Leung and the other, Peh. There was also no need for Leung and Peh to answer questions relating to a separate letter defence lawyers earlier claimed the pair had deliberately kept hidden.
The trial continues today.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1898516/businessman-lew-mon-hung-threatened-drop-political-bomb
