A jailed warrants trader and his wife won their appeal yesterday because of graft-busters' coaching of a witness to lie that was revealed only after their trial.
Appeal judges said Raymond Ng Chun-to, who was jailed by the District Court for four years in 2010 for false trading in HK$100 million worth of derivatives, was exposed to a real risk of prejudice and had an unfair trial, the appeal judges said.
His wife, Cheng Yuen-yi, who got three years' jail for money-laundering, won her appeal because the unfair trial of her husband would have affected her choice whether to take to the stand out of concern that her evidence would incriminate him.
The three-judge panel said the Independent Commission Against Corruption was a powerful organisation that was armed with draconian powers for good reasons.
"Disdain for the rule of law in a particular case in order to achieve what [the officers] perceive to be the 'right' result is to contribute slowly but surely to the destruction of the checks and balances which have been designed over time to provide the public and individuals with a respected system of justice," Mr Justice Frank Stock wrote in the judgment. "The rule of law is not a sound bite."
Three ICAC officers involved in the case were jailed last year for conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice and misconduct in public office.