Top prosecutor faces june 4 probe

Staff reporter

A public prosecutor has been suspended as he is probed for allegedly sending out an e-mail to his peers that apparently encouraged them to take part in the June 4 vigil last year.

William Wong Wa-fun, then head of the Court Prosecutors Association, was suspended after sending the e-mail to colleagues, says a report by Sing Tao Daily.

The e-mail, sent hours before the vigil that was banned by the police on public health grounds, said the vigil would be "the last June 4 before the enactment of the national security law."

Stopping short of asking colleagues to attend the vigil, Wong wrote that he "wished we could do the same thing."

At that time, Wong told reporters that it was an internal e-mail and that he did not invite colleagues to the vigil and refused to elaborate on the matter.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice's web page showing prosecutors' telephone numbers no longer listed Wong's name. His position as senior court prosecutor at Eastern magistrates' courts was listed as vacant.

It is understood that he resigned from the association last year.

The department said it would not comment on individual cases.

Guidelines for civil servants say they must be politically neutral and unbiased.

"Like other civil servants, personnel at our department must ensure they won't cause any conflict of interest with their jobs when they make public comments. Those comments should not make people think they would compromise their neutrality," a department spokesman said.

Earlier in 2019, Wong e-mailed Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yuek-wah and then director of public prosecutions David Leung Cheuk-yin, criticizing the police for lying about the timing of arrests of activists, including Joshua Wong Chi-fung.

The activists were arrested on August 30, a day before August 31 - which prosecutor Wong said was a sensitive day as Beijing announced new arrangements for electing the chief executive "that many Hong Kong people find unacceptable."

Wong urged Cheng to "advise the police on this important matter of honesty and reliability affecting the legal system of Hong Kong."

In response, Cheng said all department staff would ensure every defendant gets a fair trial. It also triggered a probe into Wong's political neutrality.