THE Legislative Council (LegCo) of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) started yesterday to discuss a draft bill on amendments to the HKSAR’s Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance.

The Fugitive Offenders & Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019, proposed by the HKSAR government, was tabled at the LegCo meeting for first and second reading yesterday .

As he motioned for the second reading of the bill at the LegCo meeting, the HKSAR government’s Secretary for Security John Lee said that amendments to the two ordinances aim at solving two “practical problems” — to deal with a 2018 homicide case that happened in Taiwan but involves a Hong Kong suspect who has returned to Hong Kong; and to fill a loophole in HKSAR’s existing legal framework concerning mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. (Xinhua)