Following Denial of Evading Sanctions, HK Government ‘Admits’ Prosecutor Resigned Two Months After Being Named

Hui Chi-fung, left, a Democratic Party politician, is detained by riot police during a protest in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on June 12, 2020. The Canadian Press/AP/Vincent Yu

Alice Chan Shook-man, senior assistant director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong Department of Justice (DoJ), who was put on the proposed sanction list by a US bi-partisan group, has resigned,  amid speculation of evading U.S. sanctions. To counter that, the DoJ said that Ms. Chan resigned in September 2023 before the sanction list was out.

However, a review of the sequence of events indicates that the DoJ’s statement was inconsistent with the facts. Ms. Chan’s name had already appeared on the list of people recommended for sanction in the report issued by the Congress and Executive Committee on China (CECC) on July 12, 2023.

Samuel Phillip Bickett, an American lawyer who was accused of “assaulting a police officer” and sentenced to jail during the “anti-extradition movement,” posted an article on his social networking site X (formerly called Twitter) on March 1, quoting an internal email from the DoJ. It said that Ms. Alice Chan Shook-man, who had served in the DoJ for 28 years, had resigned, becoming the first target of sanctions to resign after the introduction of the Hong Kong Sanctions Act.

Mr. Bickett said that he did not know the reason for Ms. Chan’s resignation or the exact date of it. However, since she had already resigned, was only involved in one well-known political prosecution, and was not a major perpetrator, there is a compelling argument for removing her name from the list of sanction targets. He also encouraged all co-sponsors of the bill to support removing Ms. Chan’s name from the list.

The DoJ issued a press release on the afternoon of March 2, stating that it had become aware of a news item circulating on social media about the recent resignation of “a DoJ prosecutor,” and that while it had always been its practice not to comment on the movement of individual employees, “to set the record straight,” it clarified that “the officer concerned” had resigned in September 2023, well before the U.S. Congress released the ”so-called (sanctions) list.“ The DoJ even warned that threats of sanctions by foreign politicians that violate international law ”will only make all DoJ colleagues all the more determined to fulfill their duties and responsibilities in safeguarding national security. “

Report Recommended Sanctioning 16 People

Ms. Chan resigned before September 2023, Mr. Bickett thus cited the CECC report published on July 12, 2023, which already included Chan’s name. He later showed VOA an email he obtained that was sent by Ms. Chan to her colleagues on Jan. 15, 2024, which stated that it was her last working day.

A fact-check of the CECC’s 12-page report titled “Hong Kong Prosecutors Play a Key Role in Carrying Out Political Prosecution,” found that it recommended sanctioning 16 people. The report mentioned that since June 2019, the DoJ has prosecuted at least 2,944 people related to rallies, including demonstrators, journalists, civil society workers, and pro-democracy politicians. All of these actions constitute human rights violations.

The report mentioned that nine prosecutors, including Ms. Chan, were involved in handling political cases to varying degrees. In addition to Ms. Chan, it also includes Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecution Derek Lai Kim-wah; seven others ranking from senior prosecutors to prosecutors: Crystal Chan Wing-sum, Cherry Chong Man-yan, Wilson Lam Yi-yeung, Edward Lau Wan-cheung, Vincent Lee Ting-wai, Karen Ng Ka-yuet, and Jennifer Tsui Sin-chi.

The report also recommended sanctions against the Secretary for Justice, Paul Lam Ting-kwok, and confirmed that six Hong Kong prosecutors were involved in human rights violations, including Director of Public Prosecutions Maggie Yeung Mei-kei, Acting Deputy Director of Prosecutions (Special Duties) Anthony Chow Tin-hang, and Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (Special Duty) Laura Ng Shuk-kuen, Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (Special Duties) William Siu Kai-yip, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (Special Duties) Andy Lo Tin-wai, Acting Assistant Prosecution Commissioner (Special Duties) Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan.

‘The Hong Kong Sanctions Act’ Is Ready for Review

On Nov. 2, 2023, members of both parties in the U.S. Congress jointly proposed a bill, the “Hong Kong Sanctions Act,” to sanction Hong Kong officials, and named a total of 49 judges and prosecutors involved in the “Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL).” In addition to Mr. Paul Lam and Ms. Alice Chan, there are also a number of judges designated to handle NSL cases, such as Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, Ms. Esther Toh Lye-ping, District Court Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi, District Court Judge Kwok Wai-kin, among others.

The bill has now been sent to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and House Committee on the Judiciary, of the House of Representatives. Mr. Bickett said the first opportunity for revision is when the bill goes to committee for consideration.

Alice Chan in Charge of the Prosecution of Lam Cheuk-ting

On Nov. 2, 2023, members of both parties in the U.S. Congress jointly proposed the Hong Kong Sanctions Act, a bill to sanction Hong Kong officials. Alice Chan was on the list of 49 people named.

Ms.Chan handled the case of Lam Cheuk-ting, a former Democratic Party legislator, alleged of disclosing the case of Yau Nai-keung, the police superintendent of the “7.21” incident in Yuen Long, who was being investigated by the ICAC. On behalf of the government, Ms. Chan prosecuted Mr. Lam for three counts of “disclosing the identity of a person under investigation.” During court deliberations, she criticized Mr. Lam’s behavior as undermining the ICAC investigation. Lam was found guilty in January 2022 and sentenced to four months in prison.

Mr. Lam appealed against the decision. In November 2023, Ms. Chan continued as the DoJ prosecutor in Lam’s appeal case. Regarding the argument that the appellant’s disclosure of Mr. Yau Nai-keung was being investigated for the crime of “misconduct in public office,” and should not be treated as an offense under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and therefore is immune from the charges in this case, Ms. Chan refuted and insisted that Mr. Lam had committed a crime the moment it was disclosed, regardless.

The High Court finally ruled in February this year that Lam’s appeal should be allowed, and he should be awarded the legal costs.

American Lawyer Convicted of Assaulting a Police Officer and Deported

Mr. Bickett, the American lawyer who exposed Ms. Chan’s resignation, was accused of attacking Mr. Yu Shu-sang, an off-duty police officer chasing a man at the Causeway Bay MTR station in December 2019 during the anti-extradition movement. At that time, he was alleged to have snatched his baton, beat the off-duty police officer on the face, and stamped on his belly. He was eventually convicted of assaulting a police officer and sentenced to four and a half months in jail. He was later released on bail and appealed to the High Court, but the appeal was rejected. He subsequently revoked his bail and went to jail immediately for six weeks.

On March 22, 2022, Mr. Bickett was released from prison after serving his sentence and was deported that day.

He later appealed to the Court of Final Appeal, however, his appeal was finally rejected in May 2022.

Mr. Bickett once worked as a criminal defense lawyer in the United States. He came to Hong Kong in 2013 and later moved to Taiwan. In 2019, he returned to work with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong as a lawyer in the compliance department. He was suspended from his job in April 2020 due to his involvement in the case.

Bickett Accused Hong Kong of Judicial System Collapse After Returning to the US

In July 2022, Mr. Bickett attended the CECC testimony titled “The Dismantling of Hong Kong’s Civil Society,” and used his own experience to explain the collapse of Hong Kong’s judicial system.

He said that during the period when he was detained by the Hong Kong police for questioning, the room was just two degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit). He also revealed that the first prosecutor who managed his case told him that the police put pressure on his boss in the DoJ to prosecute him. The fact that he was a foreigner and he embarrassed the police in front of the camera was another reason. The prosecutor was subsequently replaced, and his case was taken by another prosecutor.

Mr. Bickett described Hong Kong’s judicial system as having been corrupted by Beijing’s authoritarian rule and said that it could no longer function independently.