A top barrister took to the witness stand yesterday as part of an effort to halt proceedings against his client.
James Chandler had earlier told the District Court a conspiracy charge against cigarette exporter Yeung Kam-fai was unfair and an abuse of court procedure.
He said Yeung had been acquitted in June of a similar charge arising from substantially the same facts.
Mr Chandler appeared as a witness to describe how a senior government lawyer had turned down his request to merge the two cases against Yeung.
He said he had clashed with the lawyer, Maggie Yang Mei-kei, previously and found her 'very difficult to deal with'.
Mr Chandler said he had asked Ms Yang in February to consolidate the trials and drop the first one, fixed for May, because he had a diary clash.
But he realised during his conversation with Ms Yang that 'there was no point dealing with her'.
