Defence asks why chief executive’s office and anti-corruption head took 10 months to disclose letter from accused
CHRIS.LAU@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 05 January, 2016, 4:19pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 05 January, 2016, 4:35pm
Lew Mon-hung (centre) pleaded not guilty to one count of committing acts “tending or intended to pervert the course of public justice”. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Controversial businessman Lew Mon-hung is in trouble over letters and emails he allegedly sent to persuade the authorities to halt an investigation.
But a different letter became the focus of his trial earlier today.
Lew’s lawyer, senior counsel Joseph Tse Wah-yuen, said that the chief executive’s office and the head of the city’s anti-corruption watchdog failed for almost 10 months to disclose to the court a letter sent by his client.
Tse argued that this letter could assist the court in understanding the case’s background and possibly help Lew clear his name.
In response, senior public prosecutor Anna Lai said the letter, allegedly sent by Lew, was about matters involving whistle-blowers.
The document in question is dated January 29, 2013, but was not revealed to the District Court until November 15 the same year, when Lew’s lawyers then applied for his trial to be dropped. Prior to that, neither the prosecutors nor officers at the Independent Commission Against Corruption knew about its existence.
Tse said it was only after repeated pressing that the ICAC revealed that the letter had been in ICAC head Simon Peh’s custody all along. Earlier, the watchdog said only that officers had “located the letter”, without giving further details.
As for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s office, it did not reveal its possession of the letter until October last year.
Tse applied for disclosure from the prosecution regarding the handling of the letter, in that he wanted to know why Peh and the chief executive’s office had never brought the letter to the relevant department’s attention.
“We have an accusation that it would be such a coincidence the two both hid the letter from the ICAC and the Department of Justice,” Tse said.
He also wanted to know if the chief executive had had any dealings with the document and why the chief executive office was not asked about the original copy even though the letter came to light in November 2013.
Tse, who did not rule out applying for another stay of proceedings on the grounds of unfairness, said: “We could not let those in power weaken the prosecution’s responsibility for disclosure and delay our case, barring justice from being done.”
READ MORE: Lew Mon-hung to stand trial next year on charges he tried to influence graft probe
Lew, 65, pleaded not guilty to one count of committing acts “tending or intended to pervert the course of public justice”. The former deputy chairman and executive director of Pearl Oriental Oil allegedly sent letters and emails to Leung and Peh, trying to get them to stop an ICAC investigation against him or others.
Tse revealed on Tuesday that prosecutors were relying on two emails allegedly sent to Leung and Peh on January 9 in 2013, a day after Lew was arrested for another charge he was acquitted of last year at the High Court. Lew also allegedly sent the two a letter each the next day. But the letter of concern in today’s hearing is not part of the allegation.
The trial continues before Judge Frankie Yiu Fun-chee this afternoon.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1898114/hidden-letter-takes-centre-stage-trial-controversial-hong
