System abuse: C.Y.’s top media aide slams high fees charged by barristers in judicial review cases
Andrew Fung echoes criticism by former top court judge over legal challenges to administrative decisions
The top media aide to the chief executive has hit out at “abuses” of judicial reviews and asked any lawyers who challenge this claim to reveal their income from such cases.
Information coordinator Andrew Fung Wai-kwong, who made the remarks in his column in Headline Daily newspaper on Monday, echoes retired top court judge Henry Litton who sparked the controversy a fortnight ago when he accused some Hongkongers for of misusing the system to challenge administrative decisions.
Fung’s article was published on the same day former chief justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang dismissed suggestions that judicial reviews were a nuisance to the government in an opinion article for the Post.
Fung, the fourth highest-ranking official in the Chief Executive’s Office, wrote: “Some barristers criticise Litton on the one hand, and abuse judicial reviews and take up such cases on the other.
READ MORE: Legal system being misused, says former top Hong Kong judge
“They charge expensive legal fees and even the Legal Aid fees paid for by taxpayers. The society is concerned about conflicts of interests, so what about barristers? Can they tell us how much in legal costs they have received from judicial reviews?” Fung wrote.