Hong Kong Smuggling Case Set to Start (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

                  Ex-tobacco executive's conspiracy trial set to
                  begin in Hong Kong

                  By Mishi Saran, Globe Correspondent, 05/11/98

                      HONG KONG - The trial of a former tobacco executive
on charges of
                      conspiracy to accept bribes begins this morning,
following months of
                  international legal wrangling over his extradition from
the United States.

                  Jerry Lui Kin-hong, 42, is charged in connection with
his activities from June
                  1988 to December 1993, while he was an officer working
with subsidiary
                  firms of BAT Industries PLC in Hong Kong. 

                  The charge alleges that Lui had conspired with at least
four men, Hung
                  Wing-wah, Chui To-yan, Chong Tsoi-jun and Chen Ying-jen,
to accept
                  advantages for Lui to ensure a steady supply of
cigarettes to East Asian
                  distributors Wing Wah Co.. or Giant Island Limited. 

                  The remaining eight charges, accusing Lui of accepting
bribes of about $4
                  million from 1990 to 1993, will remain on court files,
said an official for Hong
                  Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption. 

                  ''It's not unusual for the charges laid against a
certain person to change,'' the
                  official said. 

                  Lui was born in Hong Kong and became a Canadian citizen
in 1994. He was
                  arrested by the FBI at Boston's Logan airport in
December 1995 while on
                  personal business. 

                  ''The evidence that we wanted has been allowed,'' said
John Reading, senior
                  assistant director of public prosecution. The trial was
delayed by arguments
                  over the admissibility of some evidence, but the
prosecution is to deliver its
                  opening statement this morning. 

                  Except for these barest of comments, a curtain of
silence has descended on
                  the trial, for fear of running afoul of contempt of
court rules. 

                  Lui's Boston lawyer, Harvey Silverglate, said before
Hong Kong's handover to
                  China that the charges had been brought by Hong Kong
prosecutors to curry
                  favor with Chinese authorities. Silverglate said the
real reason behind Lui's
                  arrest was China's anger at a thriving black market in
cigarettes. 

                  Lui was allegedly supplying BAT company products to a
syndicate smuggling
                  them into China. 

                  Silverglate also argued that sending Lui to Hong Kong,
which would revert to
                  China before the trial concluded, meant Lui could be
executed if found guilty
                  and may not receive a fair hearing. 

                  China's legal system allows capital punishment,
sometimes for economic
                  crimes, but in Hong Kong capital punishment has been
abolished and no one
                  has been executed since 1966. 

                  When US District Court Judge Joseph Tauro agreed with
Silverglate's view
                  and granted Lui a writ of habeas corpus, blocking the
extradition to Hong
                  Kong in early January 1997, the territory's authorities
and media erupted in a
                  furor. 

                  For Hong Kong, this meant US courts did not recognize
the territory's judicial
                  autonomy under China, and experts felt it could
encourage a flight of criminals
                  to the United States in search of a safe haven. 

                  Washington does not have an extradition treaty with
Beijing, and the US
                  extradition treaty with Britain, while it covered Hong
Kong as a colony, did not
                  extend to China. 

                  Hong Kong and the United States signed an extradition
treaty in December
                  1996 and a US federal court in March 1997 ordered Lui's
extradition. 

                  According to one legal expert, the problem with Lui
getting a fair trial now lies
                  less with international relations and more with the high
level of publicity
                  influencing the jury of nine to be impaneled today. 

                  This story ran on page A09 of the Boston Globe on
05/11/98. 
                  © Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.