Documents show fierce lobbying to stop extradition of Australian engineers
Two men wanted in Hong Kong on bribery and corruption charges over a short piling scandal are both back at work - and with the same Brisbane-based construction company - after Australia's justice minister refused to surrender them for trial.
Documents viewed by the South China Morning Post yesterday show how the Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison was heavily lobbied by politicians, businessmen, industry leaders, doctors and family members before he invoked his executive powers to intervene and stop the extraditions.
Despite court orders approving the extradition request, Australian engineers Carl Voigt, 45, and David Hendy, 42, were allowed to return to work in the piling industry after the unprecedented - and unexplained - decision by Senator Ellison earlier this year. The impasse has fuelled a diplomatic row between Australia and Hong Kong, with Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa considering his next move after receiving a report from the Department of Justice.
But Senator Ellison bowed to intense political pressure at home and from Hong Kong, tabling to an Australian Senate committee details of those who had lobbied him on behalf of the two men.
Among the 74 submissions on the newly released case file are those made by Russell Caporn, managing director of Piling Contractors (Qld) Pty Ltd, the current employer of both Voigt and Hendy; Gerry Howell, the president of the Piling and Foundation Specialists Federation; and members of parliament Peter Dutton and Julie Bishop.
Other correspondence includes psychological assessments, lawyer's notes, emotional letters from relatives, and even a drawing from Hendy's youngest daughter of herself with a message to her father asking when he is coming home.
