Article by DPP seen as an insult
A war of words has erupted between leading legal figures after Director of Public Prosecutions Grenville Cross was accused of belittling his predecessors and former colleagues in an article published in a legal magazine last month.
James Findlay SC, director of public prosecutions from 1986 to 1989, described Mr Cross' article in Hong Kong Lawyer magazine as 'pompous and patronising'.
Bar Association vice-chairman Clive Grossman SC also hit back at Mr Cross' portrayal of some former prosecutors as unruly or of low integrity, saying the level of the prosecutorial team over Mr Cross' tenure 'has declined markedly'.
In a reply to the South China Morning Post yesterday, Mr Cross stood by his assessment and maintained that his current team was of a high standard. He said his team's integrity was 'of the highest order, and far higher than it used to be'.
The controversial article, published in the October issue of the magazine with the title 'Directors Great and Small,' to mark Mr Cross' 10th anniversary in his post, told of the tumultuous times of his seven predecessors. Mr Cross, highlighting the biggest scandals involving prosecutors in the 1980s and early 1990s, argued that his post 'is not for those who want a quiet life, and very few emerged unscathed'.
In a strongly worded letter to the editor published in this month's magazine, Mr Findlay wrote: 'The article is both pompous and patronising. The title of the article itself suggests that some of Mr Cross' predecessors were 'small' men.