ICAC lied about key meeting, court told

A meeting that top ICAC officers said they held to discuss placing a suspect on the witness protection programme never took place, a defence counsel claimed yesterday in the District Court.

'I suggest to you that this meeting has been retrospectively reconstructed to give this court the appearance that proper procedures were adhered to in relation to the inclusion of Becky Wong [Pui-see] onto the witness protection programme,' Graham Harris told Rebecca Li Bo-lan, the Independent Commission Against Corruption's assistant director of investigations.

Arguing that Ms Li had given false evidence in court, Mr Harris suggested that even if the meeting had taken place, it was not attended by the people she had identified. These included principal investigator Eric Yang Yan-tak and chief arms training officer Tony Lo, who were both in charge of the witness-protection programme.

Ms Li denied the allegations levelled by Mr Harris, counsel for solicitor Andrew Lam Ping-cheung.

Witnesses for the anti-graft body said the meeting of high-ranking officers was held a day before Ms Wong signed her consent to enter the programme.

Lam, 53, barrister Kevin Egan, 58, Derek Wong Chong-kwong, 37, and his lover, Mandy Chui Man-si, 25, are accused of pressuring the ICAC into releasing Becky Wong, a potential witness against Derek Wong in an alleged corruption investigation. They have denied a joint charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.