Billionaire's 'rights breached' by divorce case ruling, court hears
Billionaire Samuel Tak Lee and son appeal against court's decision to send 'forged' papers used in son's divorce battle to prosecutors
The billionaire patriarch of the Prudential Enterprise empire and his son had their constitutional rights breached when a court decided to hand documents used in the son's divorce case to prosecutors, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.
Samuel Tak Lee and his son, Samathur Li Kin-kan, are asking the court to reverse a decision by the Court of First Instance ordering that documents used by the pair in an alleged attempt to reduce Li's divorce settlement be sent to the Department of Justice.
Awarding Li's former wife, Florence Tsang Chiu-wing, a record HK$1.4 billion, Mr Justice John Saunders said he had found that documents transferring virtually all of Li's assets to his father were forged, and referred the case to the director of public prosecutions for criminal investigation.
Based on the civil, rather than criminal, standard of proof, Saunders said that the pair had committed forgery and perjured themselves.
Lawyers for Lee, whose company has a vast global property portfolio, argued yesterday that handing over the papers to prosecutors was a breach of the Bill of Rights, specifically the right to a fair trial, the right not to incriminate oneself and the presumption of innocence.
Michael Thomas SC, for the father, said the right not to self-incriminate was an "absolute right" in common law, which could only be changed by legislation. "Criminal investigation does not trump privilege," Thomas said.