Ex-Citic Pacific executive appeals against insider trading conviction

A former senior executive of Citic Pacific sentenced to 15 months of jail for insider dealing of the company’s shares appealed in the High Court against the conviction on Thursday.

Simon Chui Wing-nin, then an assistant director of finance, was convicted of two counts of insider dealing in the Eastern Court in November last year. He was also fined HK$1.02 million for the offences that helped him prevent a loss of HK$1.36 million.

In the Court of First Instance, Chui’s lawyers argued that he did not have a fair trial.

Senior Counsel Joseph Tse Wah-yuen said the magistrate had failed to consider their written submissions and certain evidence as he decided the verdict.

Tse also said the magistrate took an erroneous approach in testing and accepting the evidence given by an expert witness.

“The Court of Final Appeal has said in no unclear terms that where a trial was unfair, the conviction ought to be overturned,” he said.

Tse said the magistrate had convicted Chui because, according to the magistrate, he had accepted the expert’s evidence and not because of other evidence or materials presented in court.