Hong Kong (SAR)

This was an appeal by the Secretary for Justice from a decision of the Court of Appeal quashing Mr Lui's conviction. Mr Lui had been convicted of conspiracy to accept advantages contrary to common law and the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. A jury had found that, while an agent of Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation and British American Tobacco Company (HK) Limited, Mr Lui had accepted bribes in the order of $23 million for ensuring the supply of cigarettes to certain companies. He was subsequently sentenced to 3 years and 8 months imprisonment, and ordered to pay $500,000 in fines, $10 million in restitution and prosecution costs of $11 million.

The Court of Appeal had quashed Mr Lui's conviction on the basis that the trial judge had wrongly admitted documents into evidence under s22 of the Evidence Ordinance (see: HKSAR v Lui Kin Hong [1999] HKCA 176).

In this decision, the Court of Final Appeal unanimously overturned the Court of Appeal's decision, allowing the appeal and remitting the matter to the Court of Appeal to hear the remaining grounds of appeal. The Court of Final Appeal disagreed with the Court of Appeal that the documents had been wrongly admitted into evidence on the basis that, although they contained hearsay evidence, they were not admitted for the truth of their contents and were admissible for the purpose for which they were relied upon by the prosecution.

The Court of Appeal dismissed a further appeal against conviction and sentence: HKSAR v Lui Kin Hong [2001] HKCA 140; [2001] 2 HKC 513.