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Sir,
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DRAFT SPEECH BY HON PETER C WONG, CBE, JP HKK 381/1
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL - 30.786 EL
2 1 AUG 1986
Report of the Select Committee on the Problems Involved in the Prosecution and Trial of Complex Commercial Crime
10
Laid on this Table this afternoon is the Report of the Select Committee appointed by this Council on 20 November 1985 to "consider further and report on the appropriate measures to be taken to resolve the problems involved in the prosecution and trial of complex commercial crimes, including changes in the procedures before and during trial and mode of trial".
Sir, you nominated the chairman and members of the Committee on 6 December
1985.
In recent years, a serious problem
The collapse
arisen.
of
to
of complex
commercial crime has
of a number
deposit-taking and other public companies has led investigations into possible criminal fraud on a large scale. Public concern over these cases and the problems associated with their investigation, preparation and trial resulted in a proposal for reform by the Attorney General in July .1984. Public consultation on this Proposal eventually led to the publication of the Trial of Commercial Crimes Bill on 15 February 1985. On
13 March 1985, the Bill was
the Bill was introduced into this Council by the Attorney General. The Bill provided that the prosecution or defence in a complex commercial
complex commercial crime trial could apply to the Chief Justice to have the case tried before a tribunal consisting of a judge and three commercial adjudicators.
An Ad Hoc Group was set up by the Unofficial Members of this council to examine the Bill shortly after its publication. The Ad Hoc Group heard representations from concerned parties, who raised two major objections. First, they emphasized that trial by jury was a safeguard of individual rights which should not be replaced in complex commercial crime trials without clear
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