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David Pannick has represented the Hong Kong government in nine judicial review cases. Photo: SCMP

Fugitive tycoon Joseph Lau wins permission to hire top British human rights lawyer David Pannick in court fight against controversial Hong Kong extradition bill

  • Pannick, who specialises in public law, has also represented Hong Kong government in a number of high-profile constitutional cases
  • Lau, jailed in absentia for more than five years in Macau, lodged a judicial challenge against the government in April
A Hong Kong court has given a billionaire fugitive permission to hire a top British human rights lawyer in his fight against the government’s controversial extradition bill.

Property tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung, who was convicted in Macau for his part in a massive bribes-for-land scandal five years ago, got the green light to appoint David Pannick QC after his local lawyers told the High Court the government’s law amendments were of great public interest.

Pannick, who specialises in public law, has represented the Hong Kong government in a number of high-profile constitutional cases.

If the contentious bill passes, Lau, 67, could face extradition to Macau to serve a jail term.

Joseph Lau was jailed for more than five years in absentia by a Macau court in 2014. Photo: Sam Tsang

Lau, former chairman of Chinese Estates Holdings, lodged a judicial challenge against the government in April, after it revealed its plan to amend fugitive laws to allow the case-by-case transfer of suspects with places Hong Kong lacks an extradition deal with, including mainland China, Macau and Taiwan.

While officials said the amendments were needed to plug legal loopholes and allow the transfer of a Hong Kong man wanted in Taiwan for murder, critics in the pro-democracy camp feared the move was politically motivated.

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Lau was jailed for more than five years in absentia by a Macau court in 2014.

His barrister Gerard McCoy SC told the High Court the tycoon should be allowed to “push the Pannick button” as the matter he was contending with was “of profound importance”. Local courts approve the appointments of non-Hong Kong registered counsel on a case-by-case basis.

McCoy said the public interest generated by the extradition bill was second only to the proposal to enact Basic Law Article 23 national security legislation, which sparked a 500,000-strong protest in 2003.

“The intrinsic nature of this issue is so fundamental that it goes to the foundations of the ‘one country, two systems’ regime,” he said, referring to the mechanism under which Beijing governs Hong Kong and ensures the city a high degree of autonomy.

He called Pannick, who had been appointed in 12 judicial review cases in Hong Kong, “an advocate with incomparable experience”, who could provide options to help the court tackle legal issues.

The secretary for justice, the defendant in Lau’s challenge, and representatives from the Bar Association, the professional body for the city’s barristers, opposed the application.

The justice chief argued it was not in the public interest to hire an overseas counsel on a local matter while the association said Lau’s Hong Kong lawyers were competent enough to take on the issue.

But McCoy said the secretary for justice’s assertion was contradictory as she also complained to the court that Lau’s sudden application had left her department no time to hire an overseas barrister in response. He also said that in nine of Pannick’s 12 judicial review cases, he was representing the government.

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In his reply to the association, McCoy said the three local counsel originally assigned to the case, including himself, would still be on the bench, so Pannick was supplementing the team.

The judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor, granted Lau’s request and said he would hand down his reasons later.

The court has scheduled Lau’s case on June 21 to decide whether to grant leave.

Pannick is known for winning a landmark British case in 2016, which required the government to table a bill to parliament before leaving the European Union.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Fugitive tycoon permitted to hire top British lawyer
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