- 6-
transferring persons (including prisoners) to other jurisdictions to provide assistance (e.g. by giving evidence);
confiscating the proceeds of crime;
serving documents.
The Bill contains provisions to safeguard the rights of the persons involved in criminal proceedings. The Bill stipulates the following grounds for refusing requests for assistance -
the request relates to an offence of a political character;
the request relates to an offence only under military law;
the request will result in a person being prejudiced on account of his race, religion, nationality or political opinions;
the request relates to the prosecution of a person for an offence in respect of which the person has been convicted, acquitted or pardoned in the requesting party, i.e. double jeopardy;
the criminal conduct in question would not have constituted an offence in Hong Kong if it had occurred there, i.e. double criminality.
Assistance may also be refused if the offence for which assistance is requested is punishable by death under the law of the requesting jurisdiction, unless satisfactory assurances are given that the death penalty will not be carried out.
Mr President, I would like to stress that the Bill is the key to the implementation of the MLA programme in criminal matters. The Bill is important in order that we can bring our new agreements into operation upon enactment. We could not introduce the Bill earlier than 9 April while the necessary consultations were being conducted in the Joint Liaison Group. Now that the Chinese side in the Joint Liaison Group have confirmed their agreement to the Bill at the last Joint Liaison Group (JLG XXXIX) on 21 March 1997, our immediate task ahead is to ensure that the Bill can be enacted as soon as possible before the handover. The early enactment of the Bill would send a powerful message to our law enforcement partners that we are committed to fighting international crime by strengthening cooperation in matters of criminal justice and international law enforcement. I therefore urge Members' urgent consideration and support for the Bill.
Thank you, Mr President.
End