New judgments

The property in question is a flat at First Floor, 118 Wing Kwong Street, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon. It was acquired by Madam Lao Po in 1960; by 1972 the registered owner was Mr Lao Kim as administrator. For many years, the flat was in the possession of Madam Fong Mi Yee, who commenced adverse possession proceedings in the District Court in March 2016. She died on 16 April 2016 and her son-in-law, Mr Ho Kong, continued the proceedings as sole executor of her estate. In June 2018, the Urban Renewal Authority gazetted a redevelopment project covering the building; the freezing survey recorded occupation by Ho Kong, his wife and their two sons. On 4 November 2020, the District Court declared Lao Kim's title extinguished under s.17 of the Limitation Ordinance (Cap.347) and that Madam Fong had acquired absolute possessory title by 1 March 2016. A resumption notice issued on 26 February 2021; the flat reverted to the Government on 26 May 2021. The Director offered HK$5,434,000 as statutory compensation under the LRO but refused the HPA, relying on Tang Lai v Director of Lands. The Home Purchase Allowance Appeals Committee dismissed Ho Kong's challenge, also on the basis of Tang Lai.

Wong Chee Sing is the Government Lessee of Nos. 50 and 52 Battery Street under a 1968 Government Lease and has been letting units in the building. The ground-floor Rear Shop was first leased in 1966 to Liu and again in 1974 to 24 February 1976. After 1976 Wong received no rent. Hung Wah, trading as Tak Hing Lung Medicine Company, came into occupation of the Shop in 1992 and has operated the business there openly without any lease, licence or payment to Wong. Wong continued to pay rates, government rent and deal with Building Orders concerning the Shop, including a canopy structure. Hung did not pay rates or government rents. No tenancy or licence was ever concluded between Wong and Hung.

ANZ entered into a Master Commodities Purchase Agreement with MCM on 8 December 2015 and 31 individual Purchase Contracts for the purchase of nickel, paying approximately US$293,625,392.59 to MCM. MCM in turn purchased the same quantities of nickel from CH and MW under back-to-back contracts. All 83 of the warehouse receipts to the order of Straits (and endorsed through CH/MW to MCM to ANZ) were forged, transferring no title to ANZ. By 8 November 2016, parts of the funds received by MCM from ANZ had been transferred by CH and MW to the Appellants: US$4,395,164.84 to ERO on 8 November 2016, US$7,000,000 to JA on 7 November 2016 and US$3,263,636.36 to HE on 7 November 2016. The fraud was uncovered in January 2017 and ANZ settled with MCM in February 2017 (later amended).

The petitioner, JIC Trust Co., Ltd (a Mainland company), lent RMB 1.2 billion in September 2017 to JAC, a subsidiary of the listed Hong Kong company China Properties Group Limited (the Company), with the Company acting as guarantor. After default, the petitioner obtained a consent judgment dated 3 April 2020 in the Zhejiang High People's Court against JAC and the Company for the full amount plus 24% default interest. The Company made multiple unsuccessful attempts between November 2022 and January 2024 to set aside the consent judgment in the ZHPC and the Zhejiang People's Procuratorate. Meanwhile, on 27 March 2023, the petitioner's parent publicly announced that the petitioner had transferred the original 'trust debt' to a third party and was conducting proceedings on instructions. The petitioner served a statutory demand for the unpaid balance (approximately RMB 713 million) and presented a winding-up petition.

The applicant (D3) was charged with three counts of conspiracy to deal with property known or believed to represent proceeds of crime (commonly called 'conspiracy to launder money') arising from a series of telephone scam operations involving five defendants (D1–D5). Count 7 related to 'Event Three', where a 94-year-old woman (Mrs. Fong) was deceived by an impersonator posing as her grandson into handing over HK$30,000 to a self-styled 'friend'. Count 11 related to 'Event Four', where a 66-year-old woman (Mrs. Yip) was tricked by an impersonator posing as her son into delivering HK$100,000 plus HK$200 in 'lai see' near a school in Sha Tin. Count 13 concerned a further HK$100,000 demanded from Mrs. Yip the next day. The prosecution's evidence against the applicant consisted primarily of his cautioned oral admission and four video-recorded interviews (P13–P17) in which he described collecting money on instructions from 'Mr Yuen', driving D1 to deliver cash, and ultimately sharing the HK$100,000 from the Sha Tin case after realising it was 'dirty money' obtained by defrauding elderly people.

The plaintiff is the registered owner of Lot 142, an Old Schedule Agricultural Lot at Hung Uk Tsuen, Yuen Long, holding title since 1989. The defendant and his family claim to have occupied Lot 142 since the 1960s, when the defendant's grandfather leased it; rent ceased to be paid in 1976. The defendant and his family cultivated the land, raised livestock, planted fruit trees, built water channels and underground drainage, erected bamboo and metal-sheet fences, and used the land for storage. In November 2015, the defendant paved the land and erected structures, prompting the plaintiff to claim trespass. In 2007, the defendant registered a Statutory Declaration claiming adverse possession of Lot 142.

On 16 March 2018, a Chinese female called Fan was intercepted at the Lo Wu Control Point with 347 grammes of a mixture containing 302 grammes of heroin hydrochloride strapped to her body. Customs officers then intercepted the appellant shortly afterwards at Lo Wu MTR station with two packets concealed on his person, containing a total of 709 grammes of a mixture with 520 grammes of heroin hydrochloride, with an overall street value of HK$517,570. Fingerprints on the packaging matched the appellant, and travel records showed he had crossed the border twice that morning, sharing Fan's travel movements. The appellant accepted that he had taken the job for HK$5,000 to be shared with Fan and characterised himself as a courier rather than a prime mover.

On 30 July 2022, the applicant was found illegally parked by a police patrol car. When asked to alight, he reversed at speed and drove forward to escape, during which a pursuing officer fell. He then drove to Hamilton Street in Yau Ma Tei, where police caught up and officers used batons to strike his car windows. The applicant accelerated and crashed into the rear of a taxi and a private car to escape, before crashing into a Honda at a red light. He then fled on foot and was restrained. He discarded plastic bags containing 5.6g of cocaine and 9.33g of ketamine, and a further 0.61g of ketamine was found in the car. He admitted trafficking dangerous drugs and dangerous driving.

On 1 August 2022, the appellant pleaded guilty before a magistrate to attempted trafficking in a dangerous drug, and on 1 August 2023 confirmed her plea before the judge. On 14 May 2021, a consignment from Thailand containing 50 spools of rubber tube was examined, and 4.96 kilogrammes of a crystalline solid containing 4.924 kilogrammes of Ice were found concealed in five spools. On 20 May 2021, during a controlled delivery, the appellant appeared to collect the consignment, telling the officer she was helping Kenneth to collect it. She was arrested and stated she did not know her friend's name and had not been promised a reward. WhatsApp messages revealed she had previously collected a parcel of drugs in February 2021 on her ex-boyfriend's instructions. The estimated street value of the drugs was about HK$2,703,200. At the time of sentence, she was 36, had been in remission from breast cancer since January 2021, and held a Form 8 recognizance.