Hong Kong court jails ex-paralegal for 3 years for pressuring innocent client to plead guilty in cocaine trafficking case

An ex-paralegal misled his innocent client into admitting guilt in a HK$1.9 million (US$243,000) cocaine trafficking case in an abuse of his professional status, a Hong Kong judge on Thursday said as she sentenced him to three years in jail.

Paul Chan Keung-lee, 60, on Thursday returned to the District Court for sentencing on a count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The court last month heard he had tried to get suspect Ma Ka-kin to provide false testimony to customs officers in charge of a 2016 case involving 1.19kg (42 ounces) of cocaine.

Hong Kong clerk admits persuading client to plead guilty to drug trafficking

Judge Kathie Cheung Kit-yee said Chan, despite being taken on by Ma’s father, had prioritised the interests of a co-defendant, who had reportedly played a more prominent role in the crime.

“The defendant abused his status as a legal practitioner and misled the innocent Mr Ma into pleading guilty … His offence has seriously undermined the public’s confidence in the judicial system and the administration of justice,” she said.

Ma, a former noodle shop worker, had faced a joint charge of trafficking a dangerous drug alongside colleague Hung Chi-him after allowing him to use his address for the delivery of a parcel from Brazil in October 2016. The package was later found to contain cocaine, while Ma maintained he had no knowledge of the contents.

Hong Kong doctor guilty of misconduct after injecting vaccine, not contraceptive

Prosecutors said Chan had tried to convince the then 20-year-old Ma to retract his incriminating statements against Hung and floated the idea he might receive a lighter sentence if he lied about the extent of his colleague’s involvement and took all the blame himself.

Chan also tried to have him sign a statement in which he would confess to framing Hung because he had owed him money, but Ma refused.

Ma agreed to plead guilty to trafficking after being convinced he could receive the most lenient sentence possible.

Customs officers leading the drug case later dropped the trafficking charge against Hung, in a move unrelated to Ma’s guilty plea.

Despite firing his lawyers and then reversing his plea, Ma received a 23-year prison sentence after a High Court jury convicted him by a majority vote of five to two in a 2019 trial.

Hong Kong customs seizes crystal meth worth HK$170 million hidden in leather rolls

He spent more than 4½ years behind bars before the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction in 2021.

The judge on Thursday accepted that the offence committed by Chan had no substantial impact on the course of justice, and the court should not presume Hung’s guilt when sentencing the former legal clerk.

But she found Chan had nonetheless duped Ma into taking responsibility, which ultimately led to the former noodle worker having to spend over a year in custody while waiting for the High Court decision on his request to take back his guilty plea.

Cheung reduced Chan’s sentence to three years imprisonment from a starting point of 4½ years, after taking into account his timely guilty plea. He is expected to be eligible for early release in a month’s time, as he has been remanded in custody since August 2021.

Chan’s co-defendant, barrister Dorothy Cheung Hiu-wai, has denied a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and is expected to stand trial next month.

The offence carries a maximum jail sentence of seven years in the District Court.