Former DPP: Justice Department should not take market regulator's prosecuting power

The Justice Department should not take over the prosecuting power of the securities and futures market regulator, says ex-director of public prosecutions Grenville Cross, who also spoke of the department's low morale due to its management style.

His remarks were out of tune with those of Kevin Zervos, who resigned as director of public prosecutions (DPP) in September and has joined the judiciary.

Zervos had called for the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to hand over its prosecution power as it "lacked sufficient internal regulation and oversight", adding that the watchdog's power to prosecute could lead to conflicts over its investigative and regulatory role.

But Cross, in an open letter addressed to the incumbent DPP Keith Yeung Ka-hung, argued otherwise. "Unless there is to be a vast increase in the department's prosecutorial strength, which seems unlikely, it is surely in its own interest that the SFC should be able, like other statutory bodies, to initiate its own prosecutions, provided prosecution policy guidelines are strictly followed," he said.

Cross also called on Yeung to re-establish a good working relationship between the Justice Department and the SFC.

"Abrasiveness must never again be allowed to poison the partnership, not least because this undermines effective enforcement action," he said.