A claim that the Chief Executive relied unfairly on secret government legal advice when deciding whether an alleged snakehead should be extradited to the US was rejected by a judge yesterday.
Gerard McCoy SC, for Chen Chong-gui, 46, said Tung Chee-hwa had sought help from the Department of Justice, which was seeking the extradition in the first place.
'At one end they are prosecuting my client and at the other end of the spectrum they are giving independent legal advice to the Chief Executive as to whether he should remove him or not,' Mr McCoy argued.
'It is a most unsatisfactory situation when someone's liberty is at stake.' But Mr Justice Wally Yeung Chun-kuen rejected the bid to force Mr Tung to reconsider the decision.
The Court of First Instance judge said he would give his reasons at a later date.
Mr McCoy had argued the advice provided to Mr Tung by the Solicitor-General was not made known to Chen's lawyers and no reasons were provided for the Chief Executive's decision to order his extradition.
