3 Hong Kong judges deny Jimmy Lai defence team’s request to recall key prosecution witness to the stand
- West Kowloon Court said Lai’s team had ‘more than reasonable opportunities’ to test former Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung’s knowledge of ‘lunchbox meetings’
- Defence had more than two years to prepare their case after receiving sworn statements of Cheung and other witnesses
West Kowloon Court heard on Thursday that Lai’s legal team had had “more than reasonable opportunities” to test former Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung’s knowledge of a series of “lunchbox meetings” among senior executives of the now-defunct tabloid when he took the witness box earlier this year.
Madam Justice Susana D’Almada Remedios said on behalf of the bench that “more than sufficient notice” had been tendered to the defence about the existence of the meetings’ abstracts, but it was not until the middle of Cheung’s court testimony that Lai’s lawyers realised their importance to their case.
She stressed prosecutors were never in possession of any such abstract stored on workplace communication app Slack nor was it accessible by them.
The judge also highlighted that Lai was himself a participant in the relevant Slack conversations and that the defence had more than two years to prepare for their case after receiving the sworn statements of Cheung and other witnesses.
“Whatever motivation may be, it is not for us to determine, but looking solely at the facts, it is clearly not in the interest of justice to allow the recall of [Cheung],” Remedios added.
Lai’s legal team lodged the application at the eleventh hour as they sought to challenge Cheung’s understanding of the nature of the meetings.
Prosecutors argued the meetings were designed for Lai to influence high-level editorial decisions by Apple Daily and further his anti-government agenda.
The defence countered by categorising the decisions made in those meetings as purely commercial.
A lawyer on Lai’s legal team earlier testified that the abstracts’ existence only came to their knowledge in late January this year when Cheung was giving evidence.
They received copies of the Slack dialogues from Lai’s daughter, Claire Lai Choi, who was able to produce screenshots of the communications by logging in using the tycoon’s credentials.
After the ruling, the prosecution called a police officer to testify about his meetings with Cheung after the latter was detained at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre in June 2021.
He said after Cheung read the document in a meeting room, the two discussed “daily matters” including his prison routines, diet and religion.
Lai said he did not talk about the present case nor did he ask Cheung to assist the investigation during the almost four-hour meeting, but Cheung told the officer to visit him on another day.
Steven Kwan Man-wai, for the defence, suggested the sergeant had attempted to convince Cheung to help police during the lengthy conversation on November 11, 2021.
Kwan also argued the reason Cheung talked about the case immediately after meeting the officers the next day was because he was told to consider the offer overnight.
The sergeant denied the assertions.
The trial resumes on Friday.
