Sonia Chan wants retroactive effect in extradition deal

Sonia Chan

The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, told public broadcaster TDM that she believes that the proposed extradition treaty with Hong Kong will apply retroactively. That would allow the surrender of individuals to cover those already convicted as long as the rulings against them are still valid.
Chan said that, after the agreement has been signed, the extradition rights can be applied to all previously delivered sentences that are still in force.
“According to our interpretation of that accord with Hong Kong, after the signing, all sentences are valid. This, from our point of view, means that after it takes effect both parties can ask for the sentence to be enforced,” Chan told TDM during an exclusive interview.
The secretary stressed, however, the difficulties involved in resolving differences between the legal landscapes of Macau and Hong Kong. The differences are further pronounced in similar deals being worked out with both Mainland China and Taiwan.
“As you know, our law is very different from that of those areas, in both aspects of the judicial tradition, such as our respective regulations. When we think about creating a legislative measure of a mutual legal assistance agreement with mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan in the future, it will not be easy to adapt our legislation because of those differences,” the secretary explained to the broadcaster.
“We are aware of the differences in the legal framework and hope that, among the four regions, there can be a consensus on how to carry out the legislative work,” she added.
The highest-profile cases that could be targeted by the extradition agreement, if signed, are those of Joseph Lau and Steven Lo, who were both sentenced to prison in 2014 for corruption and money laundering in connection with Ao Man Long. The pair has evaded their sentences by avoiding travel to Macau, where they are considered fugitives.
Last month Sonia Chan told reporters that she was unable to comment on individual cases. DB