Abode controversy leaves sword hanging over top court, says Bar

A sword is hanging over the head of the Court of Final Appeal as a result of the Government's refusal to rule out requests for Beijing to interpret the law, the Bar Association chairman warned yesterday.

In one of the most damning indictments yet laid against the Government, Ronny Tong Ka-wah SC made a series of allegations concerning its handling of legal issues.

He said the failure to make a public promise not to seek further interpretations of the Basic Law from Beijing had damaged public confidence in the rule of law.

'In the Bar's view, this was and still is a Damocles sword to our Court of Final Appeal.

'Confidence in our legal system and the independence of our Judiciary are bound to suffer,' he said in his annual report to barristers.

Views of this kind were branded 'wrong-headed' by Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie at the opening of the new legal year on Monday.

But Mr Tong, re-elected chairman at the association's annual general meeting yesterday, said afterwards: 'I don't think we are wrong-headed . . . I listened very patiently to what our Secretary for Justice had to say . . . but I am afraid I am not convinced by her arguments.' In his report, Mr Tong also targeted Ms Leung's handling of the Sally Aw Sian case.