Appeal court boosts Andrew Lam's 'manifestly inadequate' jail sentence from four to six years

A top lawyer jailed for attempting to stop a protected witness from testifying in a high-profile corruption case received a fresh blow yesterday when the Court of Appeal rejected his plea for a lighter sentence and raised his four-year term to six years.

The court said the original jail term for Andrew Lam Ping-cheung, 57, for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice was 'manifestly inadequate'. It also raised the term of co-conspirator Derek Wong Chong-kwong, 41, who was convicted in his absence, from three years to five.

But Lam and Mandy Chui Man-si, 29 - also convicted in the case - still have an opportunity to clear their names as the Court of Final Appeal last week agreed to hear appeals against their convictions.

Lam, Wong and Chui requested lower sentences from the court earlier this month, at the same time that prosecutors appealed for higher ones for Lam and Wong. The court struck down the defendants' appeals and approved the tougher terms. Chui's term remains unchanged.

The court said Lam was accused of attempting to use the court and the press to release a secretary from the witness protection programme who could provide potentially incriminating information to graft-busters investigating her boss, Lam's client.

As a solicitor he was expected to promote justice, not pervert it. For a solicitor to be involved in conspiring to use the legal machinery to achieve 'nefarious ends' struck at the heart of the justice system and undermined trust in the legal profession, the court said in a written judgment. The administration of justice depended on a legal profession that upheld its duty to the courts and the community.