Jan 2017
Haldanes achieved an acquittal for the defendants involved in the Taiwan lard case
Two defendants (facing two charges each) have been acquitted after a District Court trial. The charges were (1) conspiracy to make false instruments and (2) doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice. The acquittal occurred yesterday, 4 January 2017 as reported in the SCMP and Apple Daily attached.
The case involved the export of lard to Taiwan. The defendants in the case were a company director and a clerk.
The case was an interesting one from a number of perspectives. The main evidence came from an accomplice witness who gave evidence at the trial under immunity.
His Honour Judge Gary Lam in acquitting the defendants, commented that the accomplice witness had done his best to give truthful evidence, but with the lapse of time there was uncertainty. The acquittal of the two defendants followed.
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20170105/19886820
*The SCMP “headline” characterising the case as “gutter oil” is a mischaracterisation. There was no evidence that the lard was anything other than “pure lard” and there was no allegation that it was unfit for human consumption.
