Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Default imprisonment for non-payment

Legal area

Court

21 May 2004

HKSAR v. NGAI WING KEUNG

Citation

HKSAR v. NGAI WING KEUNG
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMA110/2004

The appeal was allowed in part because the magistrate erred in focusing solely on whether bail money was available to the appellant rather than conducting proper enquiries into the appellant's overall means; imposing 3 months' default imprisonment effectively punished the appellant for refusing to use purported bail money and was wrong in principle, so the fine of $20,000 and the 3‑month default sentence were revoked.
11 Feb 1998

HKSAR v. CHUN YEUNG

Citation

HKSAR v. CHUN YEUNG
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC89/1995

Because the appellant failed to provide evidence to rebut statutory presumptions or to prove the nature or provenance of the claimed $8,000,000, the Chief Judge was entitled to quantify the confiscation on the balance of probabilities without crediting that sum; the 7‑year default term was not manifestly excessive or in breach of totality; however the appellant's cooperation warranted a substantial reduction of each 25‑year concurrent sentence to 12 years.
17 Mar 1994

KO CHI YUEN v. R.

Citation

KO CHI YUEN v. R.
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACC298/1993

The Court held that Article 11(1) does not extend to confiscation proceedings of this nature; alternatively, if Article 11(1) did apply, the s.4(2) and s.4(3) assumptions in Cap.405 are justifiable and proportionate exceptions to the presumption of innocence; therefore the application for leave to appeal was dismissed and the confiscation order and three-year default term were upheld.

Hong Kong Case Law

HKSAR v. NGAI WING KEUNG

HKSAR v. CHUN YEUNG

KO CHI YUEN v. R.