Costs of breifing out external counsel

Nawin Santikarn根據公開資料要求律政司披露資料

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Dear Department of Justice,

I understand the Department maintains statistics on the expenditure incurred relating to the costs of external counsel 'briefed out' by the Department (see eg. https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr17-18/english...)

I should be grateful if you could please provide me with details of costs relating to the hire of legal services and related professional fees in cases 'briefed out' by the Department to external barristers/legal practitioners, specifically:

1. The aggregate costs incurred in the 2016-17, and 2017-18 financial years (respectively) in Judicial Review applications where the Director of Immigration and/or the Torture Claims Appeals Board are named respondents.

2. The aggregate costs incurred as of 21 May 2019 in the cases of Milagros Tecson Comilang and Others v Director of Immigration and Desiree Rante Luis and others v Director of Immigration, with a breakdown of costs incurred at first instance, on appeal to the Court of Appeal, and on further appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.

3. The aggregate costs incurred in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 financial years (respectively) in defending claims for unlawful detention and/or false imprisonment.

Yours faithfully,

Nawin Santikarn
Linklaters Justice Fellow
Justice Centre Hong Kong

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1 cd, 律政司

Dear Mr. Santikarn,
Our department has received your application for access to information on
21 May 2019. Your application is now under processing. According to
paragraph 1.16 of the Code on Access to Information, our department will
inform you of the latest progress of the case separately on or before 10
June 2019. In the meantime, please contact me at 3918 4437 if you have any
enquiry.

Regards,
Maggie Or
Executive Officer (Civil Division)1
Department of Justice

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1 cd, 律政司

Dear Mr. Santikarn,

I refer to your application for access to information on 21 May 2019 and
our interim reply on 30 May 2019.  Please be advised that we are still
processing your application and shall let you have a substantive reply as
soon as possible.  Please contact me at 3918 4437 if you have any enquiry.
Regards,
Maggie Or
Executive Officer (Civil Division)1
Department of Justice

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1 cd, 律政司

Dear Mr. Santikarn,
Thank you for your email enquiries of 21 May 2019.  As requested, the
information are appended below for reference.

1.        In respect of briefing out expenditure, we do not maintain
detailed breakdown based on the Government as plaintiff or defendant in
proceedings, including judicial review applications where the Director of
Immigration and/or the Torture Claims Appeals Board are named respondents.

2.        The briefing-out expenses incurred in relation to the cases of
Milagros Tecson Comilang and Others v Director of Immigration and Desiree
Rante Luis and others v Director of Immigration are appended below -
 

Court case number Briefing out expenses
(as at 21 May 2019)
Comilang, Milagros Tecson & Another v Director of Immigration
HCAL 45/2014 $918,793
CACV 59/2016 $860,917
FAMV 39/2018 $173,250
FACV 9/2018 $1,568,384
Luis, Desiree Rante & Others v Director of Immigration
HCAL 56/2014 $939,853
CACV 60/2016 $860,917
FAMV 40/2018 $173,250
FACV 10/2018 $1,562,534

3.        The total briefing-out expenses incurred in relation to cases of
alleged wrongful detention and/or battery for 2016-17 and 2017-18 are as
follows -
 

Financial year Briefing out expenses
2016-17 $814,328
2017-18 $1,525,270

Regards,
Jason Leung
Executive Officer (Civil Division) 3
Department of Justice

From:        "1 cd" [1]<[email address]>
To:        [2][FOI #368 email]
Date:        30/05/2019 12:37
Subject:        Freedom of Information request - Costs of breifing out
external counsel

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Dear Mr. Santikarn,
Our department has received your application for access to information on
21 May 2019. Your application is now under processing. According to
paragraph 1.16 of the Code on Access to Information, our department will
inform you of the latest progress of the case separately on or before 10
June 2019. In the meantime, please contact me at 3918 4437 if you have any
enquiry.
Regards,
Maggie Or
Executive Officer (Civil Division)1
Department of Justice

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Dear Sir/Madam

Many thanks for your response.

Kind regards

Nawin Santikarn