Our partner Andrew Powner was invited to speak in the 5th Annual GIR Live Hong Kong on 14 October 2019.
Andrew participated in an insightful discussion on the topic; “A mock investigation: navigating technology transfer issues in multiple jurisdictions” with Mr. Kyle Wombolt from Herbert Smith Freehills and Ms. K Lesli Ligorner from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as moderators. Other speakers in the panel were Ms. Vena Cheng from Akin Gump Strasuss Hauer & Feld, Mr. Qing Di from JunHe and Ms. Pei Li Wong from BDO.
Andrew commented that “we all learned lessons from each other and there was interesting feedback on a recent Hong Kong criminal case conducted in Mainland China”. Andrew shared details of a recent commercial crime case he had handled: “Our client was accused of multi-million dollar tax evasion in the PRC but was residing in the USA. It was discovered that monies had been funnelled through Hong Kong bank accounts and so he was charged by the Hong Kong Department of Justice with money laundering and extradited from the USA to face trial in Hong Kong. The difficulty was that the PRC witnesses were not willing to testify in Hong Kong, but that was overcome by the Letter of Request procedure. The entire Hong Kong Court moved to China and the Hong Kong Judge presided over the evidence gathering exercise in the presence of a local PRC Judge. Hong Kong Law applied in the PRC courtroom, including the rules of evidence and cross-examination etc., all conducted by local Hong Kong Counsel. As a testament to Hong Kong Rule of Law, our client was eventually acquitted and awarded costs.”