Alleged blackmailer takes on justice chief

A securities dealer is seeking to challenge the justice secretary in court after his private prosecution of a businessman who accused him of blackmail was terminated by the public prosecutor.

Ng Chi-keung is asking the High Court for permission to lodge a judicial review against the decisions to take over his case and then terminate it - decisions he says were made by director of public prosecutions Kevin Zervos on behalf of justice minister Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung.

In the private prosecution, Ng charged that Hui Chi-ming, chairman of listed Sino Union Petroleum & Chemical International, had perverted the course of justice in claiming Ng had blackmailed him. The case was terminated in October.

Ng has been charged with blackmailing Hui over a demand for 100 million Sino Union shares. No date has been set for the criminal trial in the High Court, the papers showed.

Ng notes in court documents that a magistrate had earlier ruled he had a strong prima facie case against Hui.

Ng also contends that the law requires that the secretary for justice, not the director of public prosecutions, decide whether a private prosecution should be terminated.

He also alleges there was a real possibility that Yuen could be biased because he had earlier represented Hui in a civil claim brought by Ng.