'Justice Chief Should Delegate Prosecution Powers'

The Bar Association says the justice secretary's power to decide what criminal cases are brought against people should be handed over to the director of public prosecutions, following recent concerns over a case against former Chief Executive CY Leung being dropped.

The association said in a statement that since the justice minister is also an executive councillor, people will always question whether controversial decisions are made for political reasons.

It said Hong Kong should follow Britain's example, where the attorney general only intervenes in exceptional cases and informs lawmakers when he or she does so.

The Bar Association's chairman, Philip Dykes, told RTHK's Maggie Ho that the row over CY Leung's HK$50 million payments from Australian engineering form UGL makes now a good time to review the system.

"The Bar is not concerned about commenting on this actual case, we're more concerned with the principle. All we're saying is because there's been considerable public consternation of the decision, as to how it was made, this is perhaps a good time to look at how these decisions should be made," Dykes said.

He added that in the UK, it has been decided that the attorney general will only get involved in cases regarding national security.

In December, the ICAC said it was dropping its probe into the UGL affair after it was advised by the Department of Justice that there wasn't enough evidence to bring a prosecution against Leung. The former chief executive did not declare the money he received around the time he took office in 2012.