Corruption and wrong doing by Crown servants.
The case of Lorrain Osman.
Summary.
Lorrain Osman is a Malaysian, who has been held. on remand, in the UK
for 5 years. He is held on foot of an extradition warrant issued
by the HK authorities, who have charged him with fraud and other
offences, in the colony.
The Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate committed him to
prison five years ago on the grounds that.....
"there is ample material upon which to say that the activities
of the defendant were prima facie dishonest..".
In the five years since that statement the following has emerged.
The prosecutor in the case has been jailed for 8 years for corruption.
The Crowns chief witness has admitted, in open court, to taking up to
$21m in bribes, and to lying in breach of his grant of criminal
immunity, given him by the jailed prosecutor. The immunity has not been
withdrawn.
The then Governor of Hong Kong warned the Foreign Secretary that
the Malaysian Government, which requested Osman's prosecution, had
interests other than those of justtice in mind.
The key figure in the Malaysian Government at the time of the request
to prosecute has been implicated in a potential $50m bribe, and has
been linked to the murder of the auditor in the case.
The jailed prosecutor accepted selective evidence from the Malaysian
Government. The Malaysian Government has recently said that about 65%
of that evidence, including board minutes of the countries largest bank.
"are lost, forever".