Prosecution silenced in HK$29m bribery case
Bid to appeal decision to quash executives' convictions fails to get past judges
The Department of Justice has lost its bid for an appeal in the case involving two executives accused of paying HK$29 million in bribes to Macau's disgraced former public works chief Au Man-long.
The two former directors of Swire Pacific, Lionel Krieger, 64, and James Tam Ping-cheong, 58, had their convictions quashed last December when the Court of Appeal ruled Hong Kong law did not cover bribes paid outside the city.
Prosecutor Alice Chan urged the Court of Final Appeal to hear further arguments relating to the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. However, the court's Mr Justice Roberto Ribeiro, Mr Justice Robert Tang Ching and Mr Justice Joseph Fok, dismissed the application. They will make their reasons known later.
The pair were accused of teaming up with Macau businessman Frederico Nolasco da Silva to offer Ao the money between 2002 and 2005 in return for three contracts with the Macau government worth more than HK$1 billion.
The pair were convicted in the District Court and jailed for three years and three months, but were granted bail pending their appeal.
The appeal court's judges found that, under the ordinance, even when a bribery deal was concluded in Hong Kong, it did not render the conspiracy indictable in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong and Macau have been discussing a legal-assistance agreement which includes the surrender of fugitives.
In a separate case, the former chairman of Chinese Estates Holdings, Joseph Lau Luen-hung, and BMA Investment chairman Steven Lo Kit-sing remain free after being convicted in March in Macau of bribing Ao to secure a piece of land for a housing project.
Lau did not attend the trial and Lo steered clear of the court for the verdict.
Both are appealing their convictions from Hong Kong.
Ao has been jailed in Macau after being sentenced to 29 years' imprisonment in May 2012.
