Former legislator Gary Cheng Kai-nam was accused yesterday of shopping around for the right judge by attempting to have his trial conducted in Cantonese.
In a preliminary hearing in the District Court, prosecutor Daniel Marash, SC, objected to an application by Cheng, 51, to have his trial rescheduled before a bilingual judge and for it to be conducted in Cantonese, saying the move would handicap the prosecution team, which could speak only English.
Senior assistant director of public prosecutions Kevin Zervos, along with Mr Marash, is to prosecute Cheng on five charges: misconduct in public office, accepting an advantage as a Legislative Council member, false accounting and two counts of theft. No pleas have been formally entered.
Cheng's lawyer, Andrew Lam Ping-cheung, objected to the prosecution suggestion that his client was 'forum shopping'.
Mr Lam said there was a genuine need for the trial to be conducted in Cantonese as Cheng would be more comfortable using his mother tongue.
'The policy is also quite clear - from time to time officials publicly extend their encouragement of the usage of Chinese in criminal proceedings,' Mr Lam said.