24 Jul 2009
WONG HON SUN v. HKSAR
- Citation
- WONG HON SUN v. HKSAR
- Court
- Court of Final Appeal
- Case number
- FACC1/2009
Forfeiture proceedings under s.28 IEO are civil; the Commissioner must establish the goods are liable to forfeiture on the civil standard, and the claimant bears the legal burden to prove on the balance of probabilities that he is entitled to delivery (i.e. that he did not participate in or facilitate the contravention). Where the allegation of complicity is serious the commensurate evidence approach applies: the claimant must rebut liability with evidence of strength proportionate to the seriousness of the allegation. The magistrate's circumstantial finding that complicity was the only reaso…