A barrister calls for a 'stale case of fraud' against Lee Ming Tee to be thrown out
The prosecution of the former chairman of the Allied Group over decade-old fraud allegations had turned into a persecution and should be thrown out of court, a High Court judge heard yesterday.
The statement was made in support of Lee Ming Tee's application before Mr Justice Robert Tang in the Court of First Instance yesterday for a permanent stay of proceedings - the third time the courts have heard such an application.
Lee has been successful twice before in obtaining an order for a stay of proceedings, before Mr Justice Pang Kin-kee in July 2000 and then before Mr Justice Conrad Seagroatt in December 2002. Both were overturned by the Court of Final Appeal.
Lee has always denied two charges of conspiracy to defraud and four charges of publishing a false statement of account he faces in relation to events between 1990 and 1992.
His co-accused, Ronald Tse Chu-fai, the company's former finance director, pleaded guilty last December to one count of publishing a false statement and was given a suspended sentence. A further five charges against him were allowed to remain on file but will not be pursued.
Yesterday, Lee's counsel, Jonathan Caplan QC, told the court the action against his client breached Article 11 (2) (c) of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights dealing with the rights of those charged with or convicted of a criminal offence, since it ordained 'these persons be tried without undue delay'.