Extraditions from Hong Kong to rest of China violate Basic Law, argue lawyers for fugitive tycoon Joseph Lau in judicial review

A convicted billionaire looking to avoid being sent to Macau under a controversial Hong Kong government extradition plan will argue the proposed new law would violate the city’s mini-constitution.

Lawyers for Joseph Lau Luen-hung said excluding the rest of China from local extradition law is a core part of the principles under which the city is governed.

That was one of a set of new arguments submitted to the High Court last week in amendments to Lau’s application for a judicial review of proposed legal changes, which would allow the handover of fugitives to any jurisdiction the city has no extradition deal with, including mainland China and Macau.

The proposal has already met firm resistance elsewhere, with pan-democrats, legal experts and some business leaders saying it could lead to Hongkongers being prosecuted for political reasons on the mainland.

If the High Court rules in the tycoon’s favour, he will avoid being returned to Macau, where in 2014 he was jailed in absentia for more than five years for his part in a bribes-for-land scandal.

He has lived in Hong Kong since then, leaving him immune to any threat of extradition until the recent proposal emerged.

The fresh grounds put forward included an argument that the exclusion of “the rest of the People’s Republic of China” from the extradition laws formed a core part of the “one country, two systems” principle, under which the central government rules the city but allows it a high degree of autonomy.

City chief stakes credibility on extradition bill – but impasse continues

The lawyers argue the exclusion ensures Hong Kong residents cannot be subject to the criminal law of the rest of China. They asked the court to declare that any decision to repeal the exclusion would violate the rights protected by Article 38 of the Basic Law, which states that residents shall enjoy the other rights and freedoms safeguarded by the laws of Hong Kong.

They also argue that the city government cannot surrender anyone to other parts of China unless it can prove that all the courts in China abide by the rule of law, and respect human rights and standards of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The potential for the law to have retroactive effect is something else they will take issue with.

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The Post understands that Lau’s lawyers applied for David Pannick, a British QC who has represented the Hong Kong government in a number of high-profile constitutional cases, to join their team.

But both Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah and the Hong Kong Bar Association oppose Pannick’s admission. The Department of Justice and the association declined to explain the reasons for their opposition, citing ongoing legal proceedings.

A High Court hearing is scheduled for May 23 to discuss the admission of Pannick, who already helped in the drafting of the new arguments.

China’s rule of law has not come far enough to reassure Hongkongers

The hearing for Lau’s judicial review application is scheduled for June 21.

Lau, former chairman of Chinese Estates Holdings, dropped a bombshell in April by lodging a judicial review of the planned amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which has since then caused gridlock – and scuffles – in the legislature.

Lau and his business partner, Steven Lo Kit-sing, were found guilty of corruption and money laundering, having paid a HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) bribe to Macau’s former public works chief, Ao Man-long, who was jailed for 29 years in 2012.

In their first submission to the court last month, his legal team, led by Gerard McCoy SC and Robert Pang SC, asked the court to declare that surrendering Lau to Macau would violate the Bill of Rights, the local legislation that transposed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a UN human rights treaty.

They claimed Lau’s trial in Macau was “marred by ... serious procedural irregularities that rendered the trial incompatible with internationally mandated standards of fairness”.

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