Extradition treaty between SARs to encompass past cases

The planned extradition treaty between Macau and Hong Kong may apply not only to current fugitives but also to cases predating the agreement, according to a source quoted by the South China Morning Post.
Under the treaty, fugitives who take refuge in one city to avoid punishment in the other will be repatriated. Furthermore, the source revealed that the law would be applicable retroactively, even if no specific retroactive clause is written into it.
Backdating the enforcement of the treaty could let Macau finally mete out justice to two Hong Kong tycoons, Joseph Lau Luen-hung and Steven Lo Kit-sing. The pair were each sentenced by Macau’s courts to five years and three months in prison over bribing the former Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Ao Man Long, to secure land for a luxury property project.
Nevertheless, the source indicated that the agreement has yet to be finalized in a way that would fit both jurisdictions, which is a task of “significant difficulty” due to the difference in the two SARs’ legal systems, as well as the complexity created by legal texts in the Chinese language.
Just as the treaty between the two SARs is still pending, so is a fugitive transfer pact with the mainland. The source said that HK was unlikely to establish one in the near future.