Fugitive Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau could face jail time in Macau if legal deal is retroactive
Macau’s top legal official confirms for the first time that cooperation accord with Hong Kong could contain retroactive components; Macau lawyers express concern
Fugitive tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung could serve time in a Macau jail under a yet to be agreed landmark deal between the city and Hong Kong , according to the former Portuguese enclave’s top legal official.
Macau Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi-fan said that a legal cooperation agreement between the two cities – which has been the subject of almost three years of protracted negotiations – could contain a retroactive component, sparking concern among lawyers in Macau who oppose such a move.
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Lau – who is the fifth-richest man in Hong Kong and holds a controlling stake in stock market-listed developer Chinese Estates Holdings – and fellow Hong Kong fugitive Steven Lo Kit-sing were sentenced in absentia to five years and three months for bribery and money laundering by Macau’s Court of First Instance in 2014.
But neither has spent a single day behind bars and they remain free due to the lack of a formal legal agreement allowing people convicted of crimes to be moved between the two places.
“We are now discussing with the Hong Kong authorities the details of the protocol and so far we don’t have a date to make it public,” Chan said, according to Radio Macau.
“If the agreement is established and the verdict is still effective, we can ask for extradition,” she added.
Chan was commenting on the sidelines of a press conference held in the gaming hub on Tuesday.