complex
commercial
and
be retained for jury should
the trial of
crimes. We believe that the high educational standards qualifications of Hong Kong jurors enable them to assimilate and understand the difficult and technical issues in a complex
commercial crime trial,
to render a fair verdict. For the most serious of commercial crimes, it is also our view that the community has the right to participate in the trial through the
medium of the jury.
and
Sir,
we
have concluded that the most practical and publicly acceptable way of reducing the problems of delay and
cost in
crime the prosecution and trial of complex commercial cases is to lay down detailed statutory procedures to replace the
committal
pre-trial proceedings.
now wish to present outline our major recommendations in this regard.
that
and
I
for a
The Committee recommends, in chapter 3 of our Report,
committal
be abolished proceedings should
complex commercial crime cases. We have concluded that the length and cost of a full committal is not justified in such cases.
Nor is
the present committal system an appropriate screening mechanism. The Director of Public Prosecutions is the head of a professional
service, responsible for laying prosecution
criminal charges where appropriate. At the same time, the Committee is conscious of the need to provide a safeguard for the exceptional case where there may not be sufficient evidence to put an accused person on trial. We have recommended that an accused be allowed to apply
for discharge
The to a High Court judge
such a case.
abolition of full committal proceedings in complex commercial crime cases, in combination with the safeguard of application for discharge, will reduce the time and public cost required to bring commercial fraudsters to justice.
a
in
impressed by
the
inherent
During our deliberations, the Committee
difficulties
was
constantly
in investigating
and