Source:
https://scmp.com/article/586129/challenge-hk-raids-berlusconi-case

Challenge to HK raids in Berlusconi case

Four local companies allegedly involved in the fraud case of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi were yesterday granted leave to launch a judicial review into the legality of the seizure of their documents by Hong Kong police and Italian prosecutors.

But Mr Justice Michael Hartmann, in the Court of First Instance, rejected an application by Harmony Gold, Wilshire Trading, CS Secretaries, Loong Po Management and Harmony Gold directors Paddy Chan Mei-yiu and Katherine Hsu May-chun for an order suppressing their identities.

He made the ruling on the grounds of transparency of the courts, and said the case - about the extent to which foreign jurisdictions could search and seize materials from Hong Kong premises - was of public interest.

The companies and homes of the directors were searched on January 18 in connection with Italy's ongoing investigation into alleged tax fraud, embezzlement and false accounting by Berlusconi. The case sparked a series of raids in Italy, Britain and the US.

The court heard that Detective Senior Inspector Leung King-hung secured a search warrant from Magistrate William Ng Sing-wai on January 16, after a request by the Italian government. The search team included a group of Italian prosecutors led by Fabio De Pasquale.

The applicants are seeking a declaration that the execution of the search warrant and seizure of materials were unlawful.

In their writ, they argue that the search warrants, issued under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Proceedings Ordinance, do not permit search and seizure operations to be conducted by a foreign state or its representatives.

They also claim some of the documents seized were privileged.

The applicants are seeking the return of seized materials and damages. The secretary for justice, commissioner of police, Senior Inspector Leung and Mr Ng have been named as respondents.

The writ says that as part of the same criminal investigation, Mr De Pasquale directed a raid of a 'strikingly similar' pattern in the US just weeks before the Hong Kong operation. The raid, on the Los Angeles home and office of producer Frank Agrama, founder of television programming company Harmony Gold USA, was to investigate claims that Mr Agrama, Berlusconi and others had been involved in inflating prices for TV rights so kickbacks could be paid to executives of Berlusconi's media empire.

A US court later withdrew the search warrants for the raid, declared their execution unlawful and ordered the return of seized property. 'It came to be known that Mr De Pasquale and his team had deliberately and wilfully searched through legally privileged materials in contravention of US law, and had also made material misrepresentations,' the writ says.

The case will be heard in June.