• The Department of Justice has announced that Ian McWalters has been appointed as Hong Kong’s new Director of Public Prosecutions as of 22 October. McWalters succeeds Grenville Cross, who has been in the civil service for 31 years. McWalters joined the civil service as Government Counsel in 1985. In a series of promotions, he was appointed to the position of Senior Government Counsel in 1988, Deputy Principal Government Counsel in 1994 and Principal Government Counsel in 2006. McWalters was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 2002 and appointed as Senior Counsel in 2005, after being admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales, Australia in 1975 and as a barrister and solicitor in Papua New Guinea the same year. The Secretary for Justice, Wong Yan Lung, described McWalters as having deep legal knowledge, strong professional competence and leadership skills. Wong also paid tribute to Cross, noting that he had contributed tremendously to enhancing the image of Hong Kong’s prosecution authority internationally.
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• The salaries of judges and judicial officers will be frozen for 2009-10, following a recommendation by the Standing Committee on Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service to freeze their pay and its acceptance by the Chief Executive-in-Council. This is the first time a judicial service pay adjustment has been determined under a new mechanism which is separate from that used for the general civil service, as approved by the Chief Executive in Council in May 2008.
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• Leading criminal lawyers are advocating the re-opening of discussions on introducing juries to the District Court, as an opening gambit in what they hope will be a wider debate on Hong Kong’s criminal justice system. The Law Society and the Bar Association established a joint specialist committee in September to consider the matter of giving the system greater scrutiny and review. District Court judges can hand down sentences of up to seven years in jail, but the decision on whether a trial is held in the Court of First Instance, where there is trial by jury, or the District Court, where there is not, is made by the Secretary for Justice. This discretionary power was challenged on constitutional grounds for, it was argued, violating the concept of the separation of powers. However, the challenge was dismissed in September without resolution of the constitutional question. The director of the Basic Law Institute, Alan Hoo, has said that the District Court has operated without juries since it was established in 1953 because the jury pool was then not large enough. A recent Law Reform Commission paper stated that since the requirement for juries to be proficient in English has been abolished, the number of people on Hong Kong’s jury lists has increased from approximately 20,000 in 1995 to 678,000 on 1 September this year.
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A former student dissident has been illegally handed over to China’s police by Hong Kong authorities, according to allegations made by his partner and his lawyer. Zhou Yongjun, a former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement in Beijing, traveled to Hong Kong from Macau in September 2008 with a false Malaysian passport but was held by immigration officials and later transferred to Shenzhen, his supporters said. They said he had intended to visit his sick father while in Hong Kong. He is currently being held awaiting trial in Sichuan for charges including defrauding the Hang Seng Bank, for which Wang Xingxiang, the name on the false passport Zhou was using, was wanted. A Hong Kong government spokesman said passengers whose travel documents do not meet entry requirements generally will be repatriated to their place of embarkation or origin. Zhou, a resident of the United States, had been treated differently as he had not been returned to his place of origin or embarkation, his supporters said. Critics say Zhou’s case sets a disturbing precedent for Hong Kong, where the Basic Law obliges authorities to ‘safeguard the rights and freedoms’ of everyone in the city. Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho, the lawyer who is representing Zhou in Hong Kong, said he intends to take legal action against the government.

• The Department of Justice is on the move. As part of plans announced by Chief Executive Donald Tsang to revitalise the overdeveloped Central district, the Department will move into two buildings that are part of a new government building complex on the waterfront at Tamar. Currently, the Department of Justice’s staff members are dispersed in various offices. The new headquarters will be next to the Court of Final Appeal, which will take up residence in the present Legislative Council building.
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• The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has released new guidelines on best practices for fundraising activities. ICAC Commissioner Dr Timothy Tong said while the number of complaints about corruption and other crime involving charities is small, the amount of money from donations that they handle is large and the problem should not be underestimated. There have been seven corruption complaints associated with fundraising activities over the past three years, one of which resulted in a conviction last year. The guidelines are aimed at helping around 6000 local charities on issues of internal governance, transparency and accountability in their fundraising operations. Copies will be distributed by the Social Welfare Department, the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority and the Inland Revenue Department on charities’ applications for permits, exemptions or licences. The ICAC Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee has recommended the government consider introducing a registration system and an overall regulatory framework for charities and fundraising organisations.
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• Indonesian domestic helpers are claiming they have been overcharged on their employment agency fees for securing work contracts. Some said they were charged as much as 4000% of the legal rate to obtain two-year contracts, according to a survey of more than 1300 Indonesian helpers in Hong Kong conducted by the United Indonesians Against Overcharging alliance group. Under the law, employment agencies should not receive more than 10% of an employee’s first month’s salary after they have been placed in a job. The current standard pay for domestic helpers is $3580, suggesting agencies should charge $358. However, 59% of the respondents said they paid between $1000 and $4000, 8% paid between $11,000 and $12,000 and 7% paid more than $15,000. Just 4.5% said they paid 10% of their first month’s salary, and 2% were able to get their contracts processed for nothing. A protest was held by domestic helpers at the Indonesian consulate in Causeway Bay last month over the issue.
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• A year-long undercover operation has resulted in a series of raids on a triad faction that traffics drugs and controls entertainment premises in Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok. In October, police officers arrested 46 people, including the head of the Wo Shing Wo faction who is known as Dai Lung, after a police agent infiltrated the faction. The officers raided more than 10 entertainment venues in TST and more than 40 apartments across the city. It was the operation’s second round of raids following the arrests of 34 people, including two high-ranking triad members, in September.