Court orders HKETO duo to attend hearing before Christmas ahead of spy case trial
A London court on Friday ordered a Hong Kong official and his alleged accomplice in a high-profile espionage case to attend a hearing on 12 December 2024.
The stepping up of pre-trial proceedings came as defendants Bill Yuen Chung-biu, 64, manager of the Hong Kong Government’s Economic and Trade Office in London, and 38-year-old security firm owner Peter Wai Chi-leung, both beefed up their legal team.
The duo was arrested earlier this year for assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference, and have been released on bail. They have appeared in court three times since, with date for a jury trial set on 10 February 2025.
At a hearing on Friday at the Woolwich Crown Court conducted via video links, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb handled case management matters including timetabling and applications from the legal teams of the defendants, who have themselves been excused from attending.
The details of the hearing cannot be reported to avoid affecting the jury in the upcoming trial. The prosecution laid a new charge against Wai, who is a former UK Border Force officer based in Heathrow Airport, for misconduct in public office, contrary to common law.
The court ordered Yuen and Wai to attend a hearing in person at the Central Criminal Court on 12 December. Both Yuen and Wei have yet to plea.
At Friday’s hearing, criminal lawyer Jonathan Caplan, KC, made a debut as lead of Yuen’s legal team. Caplan regularly represents the Hong Kong government, including the appeal against the convictions of police assaulting activist Ken Tsang during the Occupy movement in 2014, and the Carson Yeung money laundering appeal in 2016. Wai’s legal team also brought in Aftab Jafferjee, KC, who specialises in terrorism, homicide and secret cases.
No HKETO representatives was seen at the Friday hearing, but three mandarin-speaking men told reporters that they sat in as members of the public.
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