Ex-Akai chairman opposes retrial
Lawyers for James Ting, the former Akai Holdings chairman whose conviction for false accounting was overturned last year, argued in court yesterday that prosecutors should not be allowed to rectify the 'deficiencies' of their case with a retrial of the executive.
Mr Ting was convicted on June 29 last year on two counts of false accounting related to an allegedly fictitious purchase of a 50 per cent stake in MicroMain Systems for HK$300 million.
Akai, owned by Mr Ting's Semi-Tech Group, went bankrupt in 2000, owing about HK$8 billion. He was sentenced to six years in jail and banned from being a company director for 12 years.
It was the harshest penalty handed down for a white-collar crime in almost a decade.
Three months later, the Court of Appeal quashed Mr Ting's conviction. It overturned his sentence, lifted the ban on him being a director and ordered a retrial. The appeals court found that prosecutorial errors had caused Judge Clare-Marie Beeson to give misleading directions to the jury.
Yesterday, lawyers for both the defence and prosecution presented arguments to a five-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang on whether Mr Ting should be subject to a retrial. Mr Ting, who is out on bail for HK$5 million cash with a surety of an additional HK$5 million, appeared in court.
Defence counsel Alun Jones, QC, told the Court of Final Appeal yesterday that the prosecution had not provided evidence during the trial to establish that Mr Ting intended to cause any gains or losses from the transaction, a prerequisite for false accounting charges. Mr Jones said that if there were a retrial, the Court of Final Appeal was, in effect, 'giving the prosecution a second chance to make good its deficiencies'.
Prosecutor Ian McWalters, SC, said Mr Ting's gains from the deal amounted to 'keeping what one has', referring to the syndicated loan Akai had drawn down. The loss for the banks, according to Mr McWalters, was 'not getting what they might have got'.
Mr Jones said if the prosecution tried to link false accounting with Akai's collapse, it would be a 'new case' - conspiracy to defraud - and would be unfair to Mr Ting. The defence is aiming at Mr Ting's acquittal.
The case continues today.
