A barrister and a former paralegal with a criminal past who persuaded a young man to plead guilty in a drug trafficking case he was not guilty of were arrested yesterday.
The now-retired paralegal, Paul Chan Keung-lee, 58, and the barrister, Cheung Hiu-wai, 34, were arrested for perverting the course of justice after turning themselves in at Cheung Sha Wan police station yesterday and were being detained for questioning as of last night.
The innocent victim, Ma Ka-kin, 25, was released last month.
In 2019, Ma was wrongfully jailed for 23 years for trafficking in dangerous drugs.
Back in October 2016, Ma, then 20, allowed his friend, Hung Chi-him, to collect parcels using his address.
On October 19, one of the parcels which was found to have been shipped from Brazil, aroused suspicion from customs.
Customs officers subsequently discovered HK$2 million worth of cocaine in the parcel, with Ma's address as the recipient's address.
The next month, customs found 10 grams of cocaine in another parcel belonging to Hung in Ma's home.
Customs officers arrested Ma and Hung on the same day.
Each was charged with one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs.
On March 7, 2017, Chan and Cheung, who were paid by Hung's older brother to represent Ma, persuaded Ma to sign documents pleading guilty to his charge and wrote to the Department of Justice requesting Hung's acquittal.
On August 28 that year, Ma again pleaded guilty to his charge in court, with Hung charged with different offenses.
Finding the legal team suspicious, Ma's cellmate advised him to change his team.
On November 21, Ma, with a new legal team, changed his plea to not guilty at the High Court.
Ma said that employing his old legal team would lead to a conflict of interest.
On April 16, 2019, Ma was sentenced to 23 years imprisonment by a jury despite the judge deeming the prosecution's evidence against Ma "forced."
Later, Hung was sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to different charges.
In January, Ma had an appeal hearing at the Court of Appeal, with his innocence announced in July.
The Court of Appeal raised multiple suspicions, such as why Chan, who has a criminal record including rape, robbery and criminal intimidation, would be hired to represent Ma.
The court also doubted why Chan would visit Ma to give legal advice during his detention.
The police said yesterday that the case is being followed up by the Crime Kowloon West Headquarters.
