Hong Kong justice chief should give up prosecuting power, top lawyer says
Cheng Huan SC says role has become too political in nature and duty should be given to director of public prosecutions
There is no better time than now for the city’s politically appointed justice minister to relinquish her prosecuting power, a move that will help preserve the rule of law, a prominent criminal barrister said on Tuesday.
Cheng Huan SC reignited the call echoed previously by other legal heavyweights, who feared that the city’s secretary for justice, appointed by the government, had become too sensitive a role to handle criminal matters amid an increasingly divided political landscape.
Their argument is that the prosecuting power should lie with the prosecutor-in-chief, the director of public prosecutions (DPP).
“It’s the best time,” Cheng said, noting that the justice department had just had a reshuffle to appoint Teresa Cheng Yeut-wah SC as the new secretary for justice and David Leung Cheuk-yin SC as the prosecution chief.
In a rare and wide-ranging interview with the Post, senior counsel Cheng also shared his personal take on Hong Kong’s affairs, arguing how a “confrontational” approach to China, as adopted by some in recent years, might take a toll on the city’s ongoing development.
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“We will lose our freedom, our way of life and our independence of judiciary and rule of law faster than anything if we are confrontational,” he said.