Catherine Wong & Lawrence Chung
South China Morning Post
15 April 2016
Beijing had legal grounds to ask Kenyan authorities to deport Taiwanese fraud suspects to the mainland, legal experts say, but it could have avoided controversy over its handling of the affair by showing more respect and better communication with Taipei.
Forty-five Taiwanese, together with 32 mainlanders in Kenya, were sent to the mainland as authorities investigate their alleged involvement in phone scams targeting victims on the mainland.
The deportations attracted criticism, though legal experts said Beijing’s handling of the case was supported by international laws...“Kenya and China, both of which are parties of the Palermo Convention, have the obligation to cooperate in [transnational] organised crime,” said Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong. “On the other hand, there is no extradition agreement between Taiwan and Kenya.” The Palermo accord was adopted by the United Nations in 2000 with the aim of promoting cross-border cooperation in tackling organised crime... Click here to read the full article.
KC Ng, Owen Fung & Samuel Chan
South China Morning Post
16 April 2016
Taiwan authorities expressed hope over establishing a formal crime-fighting mechanism with Hong Kong following the recent transfer of three suspects in the body-in-cement murder case from the island to the city.
Legal scholars in Hong Kong, however, had differing views on how likely such a system could be implemented, while a well-placed Taiwan official told the Post that Hong Kong’s lukewarm response to the idea thus far was a far cry from the close relations the respective law enforcement agencies had prior to the city’s 1997 handover. On Thursday, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said the island wanted to establish closer joint crime-fighting efforts with Hong Kong, including signing a mutual legal assistance agreement... The establishment of mutual legal assistance between Hong Kong and Taiwan would require Beijing’s authorisation, according to Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong.
Young said he believed there were many reasons the central government would support such a formal arrangement, citing a criminal cooperation agreement between the mainland and Taiwan that was implemented in 2009 and had been successful.“I think it is in everyone’s interest to try to negotiate a workable cooperation framework between the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan,” he said.
But the legal scholar noted there could be some difficulties in working out a cooperation framework as Taiwan employs the death penalty while Hong Kong does not.
Albert Chen Hung-yee, another legal professor at HKU, was less optimistic. Chen said while it would be best for the city to establish an extradition arrangement with Taiwan, such a move would be unlikely. “Even between Hong Kong and the mainland, there is no formal extradition arrangement, so establishing one with Taiwan would be quite difficult,” he said. Click here to read full article.
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