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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1992
SETTLEMENT DECISION IN CONTEMPT CASE EXPLAINED
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THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, THE HON JEREMY MATHEWS, EXPLAINED IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED HIM TO DECIDE TO SEEK A SETTLEMENT WITH THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST AND THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL IN RELATION ΤΟ CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS HE INSTITUTED AGAINST THE TWO NEWSPAPERS.
REPLYING TO A QUESTION BY THE HON EMILY LAU, MR MATHEWS SAID IN DECEMBER 1990 CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS WERE BROUGHT AGAINST THE TWO NEWSPAPERS ARISING OUT OF ARTICLES THAT HAD BEEN WRITTEN IN OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 1990 IN THESE NEWSPAPERS REFERRING ΤΟ THE ACCUSED PERSONS IN PENDING CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS INVOLVING LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FRAUD.
"I SHOULD ADD THAT THESE CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS HAVE NOT YET COME TO TRIAL AND ARE STILL SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF CONTEMPT AND TO THE REPORTING RESTRICTIONS AS IMPOSED BY THE COURT," HE SAID.
"AS REQUIRED UNDER THE SUPREME COURT RULES, I APPLIED FOR AND OBTAINED THE CONSENT OF A HIGH COURT JUDGE FOR THE CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS TO BE ISSUED, HE ADDED.
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BY LATE NOVEMBER 1991 THE CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS HAD TAKEN MUCH LONGER TO COME TO TRIAL THAN ORIGINALLY HAD BEEN ANTICIPATED.
MR MATHEWS SAID: 'I WAS AWARE THAT IN THE INTERVENING PERIOD BOTH NEWSPAPERS HAD EXERCISED. GREAT CARE. I FORMED THE VIEW THEN IF BOTH NEWSPAPERS WERE TO UNDERTAKE TO CONTINUE TO EXERCISE A HIGH DEGREE OF CARE IN COMPLYING WITH THE LAW OF CONTEMPT IN RESPECT OF PENDING TRIALS A SETTLEMENT WOULD SATISFY THE OVERRIDING PUBLIC INTEREST OF ENSURING THAT THE VERY IMPORTANT CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS ΤΟ WHICH I HAVE JUST REFERRED SHOULD NOT BE PREJUDICED.
"IT WAS WITH THESE CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE FOREFRONT OF MY MIND THAT I PROPOSED TO BOTH NEWSPAPERS THAT IF THEY WERE TO AGREE TO GIVE THE UNDERTAKING TO WHICH I HAVE REFERRED, I WOULD SEEK THE COURT'S CONSENT TO WITHDRAW THE PROCEEDINGS.
"THE NEWSPAPERS AGREED ΤΟ GIVE ACCEPTABLE UNDERTAKINGS AND WITH THE COURT'S CONSENT THE PROCEEDINGS WERE WITHDRAWN.
HE SAID THE MAIN FACTOR WHICH INFLUENCED HIS DECISION IN DECEMBER 1991 TO WITHDRAW THE PROCEEDINGS ON THE TERMS PROPOSED WAS THE GREAT CARE EXERCISED BY BOTH NEWSPAPERS IN THE YEAR BETWEEN THE PUBLICATION OF THE ARTICLES AND THE CASE COMING TO TRIAL.
"IN VIEW OF THAT CARE, THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN MY PURSUING THE CASE WAS DIMINISHED AND IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, I COULD SEE NO PURPOSE IN INCURRING THE COSTS OF A FULL TRIAL WITH THE SOLE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING WHETHER OR NOT I HAD BEEN JUSTIFIED IN MY ORIGINAL DECISION TO INITIATE THE PROCEEDINGS," MR MATHEWS SAID.
THE LEGAL COSTS AWARDED TO THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST HAD YET TO BE AGREED OR ASSESSED BY THE COURT.
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