Lai See | How to prosecute the Tang illegal basement case?

We've been brooding over the charges that Henry Tang Ying-yen's wife, Lisa Kuo Yu-chin, is due to face in respect of the illegal basement. She has been charged in connection with building works being carried out without the approval and consent of the Buildings Department, which carries a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment and a fine of HK$400,000. The second charge concerns knowingly "misrepresenting a material fact in documents presented to the authority", which could lead to three years in jail and a maximum fine of HK$1 million. These are statutory offences in that they are concerned with breaches of the building regulations.

However, discussion with legal experts suggests there was another option which the prosecution division could have pursued but decided against. Without wishing to dwell on the merits of the case, this option would have been to prosecute Kuo for conspiracy to defraud, for which a precedent was firmly established by the Court of Final Appeal in the case of Mo Yuk Ting in respect of events surrounding Shanghai Land in 2002.

Mo, her husband Chau Ching-ngai, and four others, lost their appeal after earlier being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud. This involved making false representations. "As a result of the false representations, stock exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission were prejudiced by being prevented from performing their public duties in relation to the listing rules and takeover codes," states a press release following the unsuccessful appeal in 2008.

So you get the picture. Information was given to the Buildings Department in the Kuo case resulting in the government official giving permission to go ahead and do something , when if he had known the truth, he would not have done so. An indictable offence of this nature is rather more serious than the statutory offences Kuo has been charged with and carries a jail sentence of up to 14 years. She must be relieved that the director of public prosecutions has opted not to go down that route.

is not one for nostalgia. We do not, for example, yearn for a return to the days when the British ruled Hong Kong. So we have been intrigued by the poll that has been running on the 's website. The poll asked readers to vote yes or no to the question "Would Hong Kongers vote to return to a British overseas territory if given the option?"