3 Nov 1998
SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. CHAN YIN BING AND OTHERS
- Citation
- SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. CHAN YIN BING AND OTHERS
- Court
- Court of First Instance
- Case number
- HCMP4292/1998
The court held that the phrase "is to be charged" in s14(2)(a) requires a settled intention at the time coupled with the ability to implement that intention; a merely conditional intention contingent on obtaining further admissible evidence is insufficient. Because the Government was not then in a position to charge the respondents, the ex parte restraint orders could not properly continue and therefore lapsed immediately; the civil standard of proof (balance of probabilities) applies to the benefit inquiry only, not to the requirement that a settled intention to charge exists.