Vanishing witnesses a headache for court
About 20 witnesses have either disappeared or declined to testify in Ao Man-long's trial despite being summonsed by the Court of Final Appeal.
Police have not been able to trace key witness Ho Meng-fai after the former minister was allegedly provided with kickbacks worth a total of HK$100 million.
The court has also failed to contact witness Ho Yuen-fan, the sister of Ho Meng-fai, who allegedly helped to transfer money as kickbacks for Ao.
At least seven witnesses cannot be found by the judicial authorities and the police. Another 13 have declined to testify on grounds that they are suspects in other cases related to the Ao trial.
About 40 out of 92 witnesses have come forward to testify in the trial so far.
Witness Cheng Tat-yan, who is a Hong Kong resident and not obliged to give evidence in a Macau court, declined to come forward.
But Hong Kong resident Chan Hung-kui travelled to Macau to testify yesterday about his role in the transfer of large sums into suspect accounts that Ao allegedly controlled.
Mr Justice Sam Hou-fai thanked Mr Chan at the end of his testimony, for travelling from Hong Kong.
Developer Ieong Wa-kong has refused to testify, using his right to silence as he is a suspect in another court case related to the Ao trial.
Key witness Tang Kim-man, who allegedly provided more than HK$60 million in kickbacks to Ao, has not shown up for the trial. It is unclear whether the court has been able to contact this witness.
But Mr Tang's younger brother, Tang Hon-cheong, who was not on the list of 92 witnesses, turned up in court yesterday after being summonsed. Tang Hon-cheong said he was not aware of alleged kickbacks provided to Ao by his brother.
