HONG KONG: CONCLUSION OF THE 'HUEY FONG' TRIAL
The trial in Hong Kong of a number of people concerned in the arrival
there, in January 1979, of more than 3,300 Vietnamese refugees aboard the freighter Huey Fong, ended on 9 August when the defendants were sentenced to various terms
of imprisonment. Under new legislation the Hong Kong Government is attempting
to prevent large ships from entering harbour with refugees aboard if Hong Kong is
not the first port of call, or if the vessels concerned are believed to be
'nvolved in the organised traffic of refugees.
The Huey Fong's Captain, Hsu Wen-hsin, admitted the charge of defrauding the
Hong Kong Government with the intention of gaining entry for the refugees and was
found guilty of carrying an excessive number of passengers, which he had denied.
He was sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment. Sentences imposed on six of the
ship's officers, also for fraud, ranged from 15 months' to 4 years' imprisonment.
Three Vietnamese businessmen, resident in Hong Kong, were identified by the Judge
as the chief villains of the conspiracy; each received a seven-year prison
sentence and a fine of HK$50,000 (about £5,000). The son of one of them received
a five-year sentence. The Judge described the voyage of the Huey Fong as an
exercise in deceit from start to finish, motivated by a lust for gold.
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Prosecution evidence revealed that after leaving the South Vietnamese coast
on 18 December 1978, the Captain radioed the Hong Kong Marine Department to say
that he had rescued a large number of refugees at sea. However, the refugees
(Vietnamese mainly of Chinese ethnic origin) actually boarded the vessel in
South Vietnam with the collusion of the Vietnamese Government and agents in South-
East Asia.
Mr Peter Duncan, opening the prosecution on 7 June, said that after
registering with Vietnamese officials before departure, the Huey Fong's passengers
had been asked to pay 12 taels of gold (one tae about £100 sterling) for each
adult and one tael for each child under 16. Two taels per adult and one per child
went towards hiring the ship; the remainder was kept by the authorities. From this
one voyage, the Vietnamese Government had made some £2 million, over and above the
confiscation of property and other exactions The refugees were conveyed to the
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