TYCOON Albert Yeung Sau-shing should be cleared immediately of an alleged attempt to pervert the course of justice, Western Court heard yesterday.
John Griffiths QC, defending, invited the magistrate, Jonathan Acton-Bond, to 'put himself in Yeung's shoes' and submitted that the Emperor Group boss had no case to answer.
In his summing up, Mr Griffiths said the Crown had failed to prove Yeung's intention in an alleged attempt to prevent key witness Michael Lam Yih-jiun giving evidence against him in Yeung's criminal intimidation and false imprisonment trial in May.
At a midnight meeting on January 11, the tycoon allegedly instructed business associate Jacky Man Lun-chi to approach Mr Lam's employer to pressurise the witness. But Yeung reported the conversation to the Independent Commission Against Corruption less than five hours later, the court heard.
Yeung's actions in going to the ICAC undermined the Crown's allegations, said Mr Griffiths, and had also put the defendant in a very dangerous situation.
Mr Griffiths also said the prime prosecution witness, Mr Man, was unreliable because his evidence contradicted what happened in a second meeting with Yeung, monitored by the ICAC.