Hong Kong court throws out application for judicial review of decision not to prosecute city’s former leader CY Leung over UGL money
- Activist Tsang Kin-shing and former civil servant Kwok Cheuk-kin had challenged justice department’s decision
- Case involves HK$50 million Leung Chun-ying was paid in relation to UGL’s acquisition of property company DTZ
The High Court has thrown out two applications to review the justice department’s decision not to prosecute former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying.
Mr Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming refused to grant leave to activist Tsang Kin-shing and former civil servant Kwok Cheuk-kin, to apply for a judicial review challenging the Department of Justice’s decision on December 12, 2018.
Leung had been accused of a conflict of interest in relation to his non-disclosure of a HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) payment he received from Australian engineering firm UGL, before and after he became the city’s chief executive in 2012.
But the primary question in court was whether judges could review prosecutorial decisions in the first place.
In a 28-page ruling handed down on Friday, Chow concluded that the decisions could be reviewed by the court but only on the basis that the Secretary for Justice has acted outside the constitutional limits of his or her power to control criminal prosecutions.
