XN000022-1995-05-01 — Page 4

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Mr Mathews said in order to weigh the respective merits of these differing points of view, it would be instructive to consider in practical terms the effect that a daily cap on chargeable hours might have had.

He said: "Taking seven and a half hours of chargeable time as a reasonable working day and assuming that Counsel worked only 25 days a month and taking the lower Hong Kong court rate of $15,800 a day for the first 16 months, the total paid to Mr Grant would have been $15,281,562.

"If the cap had only been imposed after the first six months the amount paid would have been $16,241,099.

"This is not far off the figure Mr Grant was actually paid ($17.1 million). And were a cap to have been imposed, one would have had to consider its effect on the hours worked, the progress of the case and possible consequences for manning levels.

"So a cap may not necessarily have been a panacea. It emphasises the dilemma faced by the persons who had to make the decisions at the time," Mr Mathews said.

Putting Mr Somerville's Report into the overall context of the BMFL case, Mr Mathews said by any measure, the work involved in the many strands of this case was of massive proportions.

The Legal Department was concerned to make progress in the case, but not at any price, he said: "For example, it was, at one stage, suggested that the case should have four instead of three counsel. Naturally if that suggestion had been followed, the cost would have been much higher.

"The Report makes clear that efforts were made to contain costs with considerable success," Mr Mathews said.

The Attorney General added that costs savings must not loom so large in the department's consideration that its efforts to uphold the rule of law and the proper administration of criminal justice were seriously weakened.