TAXPAYERS are losing $30 million a year on a Legal Department scheme which engages lawyers in the private sector to handle government cases, the Director of Audit Brian Jenney said yesterday.
In an authoritative challenge to the much-criticised scheme, Mr Jenney said the Legal Department had increasingly relied on briefing-out, knowing it was more expensive than using in-house counsel.
Private counsel in fact have a lower conviction rate than government prosecutors.
In his report, Mr Jenney highlighted the need to improve the system, noting a high level of public concern about the issue after it was revealed counsel Graham Grant left the department and was then able to charge up to $700,000 a month to handle the case he had been responsible for.
The South China Morning Post report that Mr Grant had been charging $3,025 an hour for up to 171/2 hours a day had triggered an internal review of the payments for such work.
Mr Jenney also accused the department of 'overstating' the average number of days Crown prosecutors spent in court.
