Judge in fraud trial involving former adviser to ex-Hong Kong leader CY Leung recuses himself, delaying proceedings for sixth time
- Defendant Barry Cheung claimed Stanley Chan had shown apparent bias in previous proceedings
- Judge calls grounds for his removal ‘flimsy’, but agrees to step down and Cheung’s trial is expected to start on January 7 next year
A judge who was about to try a former adviser to Hong Kong’s ex-chief executive Leung Chun-ying on fraud charges has reluctantly agreed to step down from the case, despite finding the grounds for his recusal to be flimsy
Barry Cheung Chun-yuen, 61, on Monday won an application to have a judge other than Stanley Chan Kwong-chi preside over his upcoming trial, which was expected to begin next week, after his defence lawyers complained of apparent bias shown in earlier proceedings.
The ruling meant Cheung’s case has been adjourned for the sixth time since it was brought to the District Court in August 2017 – with new trial dates expected to begin on January 7 next year.
Chan said he would not speculate on whether this application was an attempt to secure an adjournment for trial, or to recuse him for some other reason.
The court heard Cheung applied for Chan’s recusal on June 10, after the judge made clear that the trial would begin on July 2 as scheduled, despite the defence twice indicating during a hearing on April 23 they might ask for an adjournment for more time to prepare the case.
Cheung’s lawyers argued that Chan might be harbouring apparent bias, given his earlier comments encouraging a co-defendant to cooperate with the law enforcement following his guilty plea on November 6 last year.
On Monday, Chan defended his comments and countered that Cheung had failed to fully establish a real possibility for a fair-minded and well-informed observer to apprehend bias in the present case.
“I’m of the view that any defendant who pleaded guilty to charges he faced should be encouraged to cooperate,” Chan said.
“The reasons are obvious: it’s not just to do justice to the defendant himself, but also to bring other culprits, be it a co-defendant or other mastermind not mentioned in the charge, to justice.”
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But the judge eventually accepted Cheung’s challenge, as he observed the prosecutors’ support had inevitably added weight to the defence position and it was the court’s duty to ensure the trial would not be sidetracked by further litigation.
“In my judgment the grounds of the present application are flimsy – but that is not the end of the story,” Chan said. “I reluctantly have to grant leave to recuse myself from trial.”
Cheung, a former executive councillor and Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange chairman, has denied a count of conspiracy to defraud – jointly charged with the commodities trading platform’s former chief financial officer, Jacky Choi Tat-ying, 50 – and another count of fraud.
Prosecutors alleged the duo conspired to hide the exchange’s true financial position, to mislead the Securities and Futures Commission into letting it keep its licence to provide automated trading services in Hong Kong.
Cheung was further accused of cheating a company named Sinomax Finance out of HK$30 million for the benefit of New Effort Holdings, a British Virgin Islands-based firm wholly owned by Cheung, who was the majority shareholder in the exchange.
Choi will be sentenced after Cheung’s trial.
