Just Saying | Hong Kong’s ruling elite show their contempt for the rule of law
Yonden Lhatoo is appalled by the astonishing goings on in court as the city’s rich and powerful rally behind one of their own to effectively defy the justice system in the case of former chief executive Donald Tsang
I’m sure most of you will remember that famous scene in The Godfather Part II when mobster Frank Pentangeli, also known as Frankie Five Angels, is testifying against his boss, Michael Corleone, at a US Senate hearing.
To stop him, the don secretly flies in Pentangeli’s brother from Sicily and has him attend the proceedings. The mere sight of his brother is enough to dissuade Pentangeli from breaking the code of omerta, and he recants his testimony.
Who would have imagined we would one day be drawing comparisons with that mafia story when looking at the bribery trial of former Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen?
A High Court judge this week made an unprecedented complaint about jury-targeted public relations stunts, while ordering the disgraced ex-official to pay part of the multimillion-dollar costs of last year’s legal proceedings, which saw Tsang jailed for misconduct in office.
High Court judge slams use of ‘undesirable’ public relations tactics during Donald Tsang bribery hearing
On Tuesday Mr Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai said he had found out that a PR firm had arranged for prominent personalities to sit in the public gallery area reserved for Tsang’s family during his retrial over an unresolved bribery charge last November.