Court To Decide Later On Donald Tsang's Appeal Bid

The Court of Appeal has reserved judgement on whether former Chief Executive Donald Tsang will be allowed to appeal against his conviction and 20-month jail sentence for misconduct.

This comes after the three-judge panel spent two days hearing Tsang's application for leave to appeal.

The former city chief was convicted in February 2017 of failing to disclose to the Executive Council a property deal with businessman Bill Wong. At the time, the council was considering several issues relating to one of Wong's companies, including whether to grant it a digital radio licence.

Tsang's lawyer, Clare Montgomery, said the trial judge had misdirected the jury about the ingredients necessary to constitute a conviction for misconduct – part of which is determining whether the accused had committed either a non-criminal error, or serious misconduct.

She pointed out that the trial jury had failed to reach a verdict on a bribery charge – showing they were unsure of the prosecution's case that Tsang had deliberately concealed the dealings with Wong because of some corrupt bargain. The defence had argued that this was an honest, commercial deal conducted at arms length.

She said the jury should have been given further direction, to consider whether Tsang's non-disclosure constituted criminal misconduct, or whether it was merely an error of judgement. She said the jury should have considered the possibility of another innocent or innocuous explanation.

Responding for the prosecution, David Perry said this was a serious case of misconduct that raised questions about Tsang's integrity.

He said there had been a deliberate suppression of information from the Executive Council, for fear of where it may lead. Not only that, there had been continuous concealment, and he said Tsang had lied to the press, and to the Hong Kong people.

Perry said Tsang's decision-making had been tainted by his relationship with Wong, and this would undermine confidence in government decision-making and give rise to suspicions of collusion between the government and businesses.

Perry said the summing up given by the trial judge had been fair, well-balanced, and generous to Tsang. He said the jury's decisions on the charges faced by Tsang showed they were completely alive to all the issues.

The three-judge panel said it would need time to consider the submissions, and reserved judgement to a later date. Tsang's bail was also extended.