Hong Kong to review car plate searches after journalist wins final appeal against conviction over accessing info for doc.
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong authorities will review the top court’s judgement that saw journalist Bao Choy’s conviction quashed to “improve” procedures related to accessing vehicle records, Chief Executive John Lee has said. Choy was cleared on Monday of making false statements to access vehicle records tied to an investigation into the Yuen Long mob attack in July 2019.
Speaking at a weekly press conference ahead of his Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, Lee said the Court of Final Appeal’s ruling “reflected Hong Kong’s fair judicial system and rule of law.”
He then said authorities would review the court’s judgement and “improve” requirements for accessing vehicle records in accordance with the ruling.
“Regarding the Court of Final Appeal’s judgement, the Transport Department and the Transport and Logistics Bureau, together with the Department of Justice, will study the ruling in detail, and improve procedures and guidelines for accessing vehicle records, in accordance with the ruling’s stipulations,” he said.
Lee’s remarks came a day after Choy won an appeal at the city’s top court, overturning her conviction linked to a documentary she made for RTHK about the Yuen Long mob attack on July 21, 2019. She was found guilty and fined HK$6,000 in 2021.
The court ruled in a written judgement on Monday that Choy’s application was made for the purpose of “genuine investigative journalism in relation to a possible connection between the registered owner of a vehicle and its use in connection with a crime,” referring to the 2019 Yuen Long attacks.
Even if journalistic purposes were excluded from the Transport Department’s reasons for accessing the records, Choy could have been “honestly mistaken” in thinking an investigation was related to “other traffic and transport related matters,” the court ruled.
When applying to access the records, Choy, formerly a freelance producer for the government-funded broadcaster, selected “other traffic and transport related matters” from a dropdown menu to explain her intention for obtaining the information.
The court also cited a Legislative Council paper noting more than half of the 22,100 vehicle records issued for reasons other than legal proceedings of vehicle sales were made by companies, of which about 25 per cent were media or news agencies.
“Given the volume of certificates issued on the application of media and news agencies, it cannot be said to be an irresistible inference that [Choy] would have known it was inconsistent with the purpose she selected for a journalist to apply for such a certificate in order to investigate the use of the vehicle concerned.”
HKFP has contacted the Transport Department for comment.
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