A District Court judge's decision to halt the prosecution of a man found with fake US silver certificates with a face value of US$88 million was premature and unreasonable, a court heard yesterday.
A lawyer representing the Secretary for Justice made the claim during a judicial review of Judge Chua Fi-lan's order on September 6 to discharge Cheung Chung-chit.
Mr Cheung and two other men, Henry Tarazona and Shinri Nakamori, had been charged with possession of false instruments.
The men were arrested on April 3 last year. Mr Cheung was found with 88 fake silver certificates, each with a face value of US$1 million, while his co-defendants had 750 fake US treasury bonds with a face value of US$500 million.
Kevin Zervos SC, for the Secretary for Justice, told the Court of First Instance that Judge Chua made the order after hearing submissions that Mr Cheung could not get a fair trial because his main defence witness was unwilling to travel from the mainland.
Judge Chua's granting of the application for a permanent stay was an 'unreasonable, procedurally unfair' decision that went against legal requirements, Mr Zervos said.