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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, after attending the Legislative Council meeting today (November 7):
Reporter: (On release of the identity of persons arrested yesterday during a joint operation by the Department of Health and the Police against suspected illegal medical practice and illegal possession of unregistered pharmaceutical products in beauty centre.)
Secretary for Food and Health: I am talking about a difficult situation. In cases that our operating department arrested certain people and before police lay charges on them, the release of the identities of these people may affect the procedural fairness. That may also affect the result of our prosecution action. We need to strike a balance between procedural fairness and public interests. If there is a situation in which releasing the identities of certain people might help protect the interests of the public, we might have to release the identity of them. I would like to ask for understanding from the media and the public that in every case, our public officers have to face a difficulty in balancing these two important principles. We hope that after consulting the Department of Justice, we can come up with better guidelines for judgements to be made in the future.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:00
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