S.C. 224
1991-09-07 11:22 COMMS OFFICE (GOVT HOUSE)
852 526 0995 P.07
1
Case No.194 of 1998.
Page:
A
EW/4T/1
B
9th July, 1991.
10.12 a.m. Court resumes.
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Both accused present.
Appearances as before.
C
D
JURY ABSENT.
E
MR SPOKES : My Lord, it's at my request the jury are absent.
My Lord, the matter that I wish to raise relates to a document which was produced yesterday which was exhibit 945 in this case by Mr Guinney, and the reference is MG 1/A. My Lord, it was a document, on the evidence, which was found at Mr Layton's home and the reason why I raise the matter is that the press report in the South China newspaper says this in relation to it, "The former Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions were in favour of paying bribes to an informer to have the LOW brothers of Ka Wah Bank brought back from Taiwan,"
My Lord, the position is that there is no evidence that a former Director of Public Prosecutions or a former Attorney General were in any way involved in such arrangement. The only materiality of the document is that it was found in possession of Mr Layton, which is described in the newspaper report as a briefing note, whether that is accurate or not perhaps it doesn't matter, and it purports to set out information received from a former Government employee whom your Lordship may not be surprised to hear I do not propose to call in this case. And the newspaper, having sought from that document to identify individuals with names in the newspaper, may have gone outside the scope of the evidence given in this case, Certainly any inference that there was evidence against those two named individuals would be inaccurate.
My Lord, I felt-it my duty to raise the matter before the court. Again, I don't know what, if any, attention to the newspaper reports the jury may pay. In the public interests, it may be that some correction of the evidence given by the newspaper report in relation to named individuals should be given. My Lord, that's all that I wish to say as I felt it my duty so to do.
COURT Very well.
Thank you, Mr Spokes. I don't know if there are any members of the press present at the moment.
MR SPOKES : I know, my Lord, this is one of the -- the problem is your Lordship sits at ten o'clock, and I think their schedule brings them to court a little later.
COURT : It may well be that you would like to make your statement
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