I knew listening device breached suspect's privacy, ICAC man tells court
An anti-graft investigator told a court yesterday he was aware the privacy of a suspect was being compromised when a bugging device was installed in her office as part of a probe into cigarette smuggling.
The bug recorded an 'embarrassing' private act and a privileged conversation between the suspect and her lawyer, the District Court heard.
'At that time I was aware of the breach of [the Basic Law and Bill of Rights]. It was a common understanding that the covert bugging would breach the provisions,' said Kenny Tso Wai-yan, an Independent Commission Against Corruption principal investigator.
He was testifying in a special hearing before Judge Joseph Yau Chi-lap about the legality of the investigation launched in 2003.
He said the authority was advised by the Justice Department on December 23, 2003, that it was 'not legally wrong' to place bugging devices in the office of Hang Chun Trade Development to collect evidence.
The investigation led to the arrest of Ko Kit, 36, and Chan Kai-san, 37, two senior staff of Hang Chun, and Lu Dayong, 57, the chairman of Nanyang Brothers Tobacco on February 23 - for their alleged involvement in the syndicate smuggling Double Happiness cigarettes supplied by Nanyang Brothers Tobacco to the mainland.
