Gavin Shiu, a senior Department of Justice prosecutor, and his secretary yesterday gave seemingly conflicting testimony when asked in court yesterday about the deletion of files related to a fraud trial.
Shiu, a senior assistant director of public prosecutions with 18 years' experience in the department, and his secretary, Rebecca Nip Sau-ching, each took the stand in the District Court, which is hearing an application for a stay of the trial proceedings. Shiu had been ordered to testify yesterday.
The defendants in the case, including the former vice-chairwoman and directors of Hong Kong-listed Yueshou Environmental, are seeking the documents in the trial, which was adjourned last month because of the missing evidence.
The District Court had earlier heard that documents relating to the case had been deleted from department computers.
Daniel Marash SC, for the prosecution, earlier said Shiu and Nip were suspects in relation to the missing material. After being told to find the material sought by the defendants, Shiu said he had instructed Nip to search for the files.
She presented him with a list of items, but he glanced at it and found nothing of note. He asked her to transfer them to a USB flash drive and then delete them from the system. 'I was concerned my secretary would get dragged into a conflict with my colleagues,' he said, in explaining the deletion of the documents. 'That's one of the reasons. It was a momentary decision. I regret that now. I apologise ... It seemed like a good idea at the time.'
He denied telling his secretary not to speak to anyone if approached about what had happened.
