HKSAR v. WONG HON SUN

HCMA608/2007

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

(Appellate Jurisdiction)

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 608 OF 2007

(ON APPEAL FROM FLMP 77 OF 2007)

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J u d g m e n t

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1. In Attorney General v. F. Gardiner, Esq., Permanent Magistrate [1987] HKLRD 11，the Court of Appeal held that forfeiture proceedings were not civil, but quasi-criminal because they were punitive in nature.  I therefore rule that Part III of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap. 484 applies to the present matter.

2. The next matter is whether I should, as requested by the applicant, certify that a point of law of great and general importance is involved in my decision in this matter, as provided for in section 32(2) of Cap. 484.  The point of law that the applicant seeks to persuade me to find to be of great and general importance is the apparent conflict between the Court of Appeal authority in R. v. CEC Finance Ltd [1993] 1 HKC 127 and the Court of Final Appeal judgment in May 2007 in Koon Wing Yee v. Insider Dealing Tribunal and Another [2008] 3 HKLRD 372.  I found in my judgment that the nature of the insider dealing case in Koon Wing Yee was totally different from this case and therefore inapplicable to the present case.  I therefore decline to certify that my decision in this case involved any point of law of great and general importance.