Read the full judgment text of CACV 261/2017 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 19 March 2018 before Cheung CJHC, Lam VP and Poon JA.
Administrative law – non-refoulement claim – judicial review – leave to apply for judicial review – Torture Claims Appeal Board – enhanced Wednesbury standard – Drug trafficking conviction leading to interruption of debt repayment – creditor alleged to have threatened applicant – Indian Rupees 1 million debt – claim based on alleged threats from creditor to kill applicant on return to India – Whether the Board was plainly right in concluding no substantial ground for believing applicant would face real risk of ill-treatment meeting the high threshold required by law – Court of Appeal applied Ubamaka v Secretary for Security (2012) 15 HKCFAR 743 at [172] to [174] – Court held Board's conclusion perfectly open on the evidence – Board entitled to reject applicant's evidence as not that of a truthful witness and to find his account a fabrication – Whether absence of legal representation rendered proceedings unfair – No absolute right to free legal representation at all stages for CAT, BOR 2, BOR 3 or persecution risk claimants per Sakthevel Prabakar v Secretary for Security (2004) 7 HKCFAR 187 and FB v Director of Immigration HCAL 51 of 2007 – Applicant had benefit of representation by immigration officer at Director stage – Applicant's failure to attend legal aid appeal hearing undermined complaint about lack of representation – Director of Legal Aid entitled to refuse legal aid given obvious lack of merit – No error of law or procedure – No reasonably arguable basis to challenge fairness – Appeal dismissed – Refusal of leave to apply for judicial review upheld
Legal issues: Whether the Board was plainly right in concluding no substantial ground for believing the applicant would face a real risk of ill-treatment · Whether the proceedings were unfair due to lack of legal representation
Outcome: Appeal dismissed; refusal of leave to apply for judicial review upheld.
Cited by 327 cases · Cites 2 cases