Cudal Domingo Corpuz v. Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office
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HCAL 1544/2020 [2025] HKCFI 4216 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST NO 1544 OF 2020
Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review NOTIFICATION of the Judge’s decision (Ord 53 r 3) Following:
Order by Deputy High Court Judge (Non-refoulement Claims) Vincent Lung: (1) Form 86 be amended, naming the Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office as the Putative Respondent and the Director of Immigration be named as the Putative Interested Party. Observations for the Applicant: Introduction 1.By a Form 86 filed on 23 July 2020 (the “Form 86”), the Applicant applied for leave to apply for judicial review against the decision by the Torture Claims Appeal Board (the “TCAB”) dated 6 July 2020 (the “TCAB Decision”), which affirmed the decisions of the Director of Immigration (the “DOI”) dated 14 July 2015 and 8 June 2017. He named the TCAB and the DOI both as proposed respondents. 2.I amend the Form 86 on my own motion to name only the TCAB as the putative respondent and the DOI as the putative interested party. 3.The Applicant requested for a hearing of this application and he attended the same. When asked if he had anything to add he confirmed that he had not. Background 4.The Applicant is a national of the Philippines. He seeks non-refoulement protection on the basis that he will be killed by his business partner should he return home, because he lost HK$75,000 cash (left behind in a bag on a taxi in Hong Kong) which the business partner had given him for purchasing garments for their trade. The business partner, who is influential in the Applicant’s hometown, would not believe the Applicant and thought he had stolen the money. The Applicant’s personal background, the relevant facts and relevant procedural history have been sufficiently set out in the TCAB Decision, which can be viewed through a hyperlink[1]. I shall therefore not repeat them. Discussion 5.The leave application operates as a filtering process and there is no requirement or expectation to give elaborate reasons for my decision: Re Zunariyah [2018] HKCA 14 at [23]. It is sufficient to state my observations after considering the TCAB Decision and the materials adduced by the Applicant. 6.I remind myself that in a judicial review, this court does not provide a further avenue of appeal. Though in non-refoulement cases an enhanced standard in scrutinizing the decision of the TCAB is required given the seriousness of the issue at hand, this court should not usurp the role of the TCAB, which together with the DOI are the primary decision-makers. A finding of fact is exclusively within the realm of the TCAB, and this court will not intervene by way of judicial review unless there are errors of law or procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the TCAB: Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524 at [14(1)]. There must be a reasonably arguable case with a realistic prospect of success before leave for judicial review will be granted: Peter Po Fun Chan v Winnie Cheung (2007) 10 HKCFAR 676. 7.In a proper Form 86, an applicant is required to identify the grounds of judicial review clearly and succinctly: Ho Loy v Director of Environmental Protection (unreported, HCAL 21/2015, 22 December 2016) at [142], and further to make full and frank disclosure of all material facts to be verified by an affidavit. 8.The Applicant did not point to any error of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality of the TCAB Decision whether in the Form 86 or his affirmation in support. 9.As can be seen from the TCAB Decision, the TCAB took into account all the evidence available [1-18] and found that on the basis of the same, applying also the correct legal principles in respect of all four applicable grounds [19-27], the Applicant’s allegations were insufficient to make out any of the applicable grounds [28-37]. In particular, the TCAB found the Applicant’s account that he lost his partner’s money to be incredible. 10.Further, the TCAB also concluded that state protection and internal relocation were available on the basis of the available evidence [39-44]. 11.All in all, I do not see any errors of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality in the TCAB Decision, despite rigorous examination and anxious scrutiny. The Applicant’s intended challenge to the TCAB Decision is not reasonably arguable, and accordingly the application for leave to apply for judicial review is dismissed. Dated the 18th day of September 2025
Where leave to apply has been granted, Applicants and their legal advisers are reminded of their obligation to reconsider the merits of their application in the light of the Respondent’s evidence Form CALL-1
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Cases cited in this judgment