An illegal immigrant seeking bail in the High Court has been deemed such a security risk that not even his lawyers can be fully informed of the case against him. The secrecy surrounding the man's case is so great that a judge yesterday asked the secretary for justice for a list of lawyers with security clearance so the defendant - identified only as PV - could be represented. The unusual request, believed to be a first for Hong Kong, came as Justice Michael Hartmann expressed concern that he was allowed access to some documents that the defendant and his counsel could not see. PV, whose age and nationality were not released, has been in custody for the past 14 months for immigration offences. He is in the process of launching a judicial review of a removal order but has asked the Court of First Instance for bail. But the government has opposed bail citing PV as a 'security risk to Hong Kong'. It was in relation to this stance that the documents were filed to the court - but not passed on to PV and his counsel. Yesterday, Mr Justice Hartmann said that, with the consent of PV, he would ask for a list of lawyers from the secretary for justice so they could look at the documents and then act on PV's behalf, but not tell him what was contained in the papers. A legal framework for such a move is in place in Canada and Britain but it is understood that no such procedure exists in Hong Kong. That means the Department of Justice must create its own security clearance list of special advisers from scratch. Mr Justice Hartmann gave the department until next Friday to produce such a list. He also recommended that more than one name be included.
