Ex-justice secretary Wong Yan-lung named in Berlusconi case
Pressure mounts on Hong Kong government over claim Wong Yan-lung was told of request to stall transfer of vital evidence on Berlusconi
Former justice secretary Wong Yan-lung is the latest senior Hong Kong figure implicated in claims of judicial interference in a case involving ex-Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.
His alleged role in the affair was revealed as pressure mounted on the government to address claims of attempts to pervert the course of justice.
Former Italian lawmaker Sergio De Gregorio said Wong was told of a request to stall the transfer of evidence from Hong Kong to Italy in a money laundering probe in 2008.
In statements given to Italian prosecutors obtained by the South China Morning Post, De Gregorio said Wong was told of the request by Duncan Pescod, Hong Kong's representative to Europe at the time.
De Gregorio earlier claimed former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was promised a private audience with the pope if his administration could stop the transfer to Italy of vital evidence.
At the centre of the Italian's claims is a lunch with Pescod in April 2008. De Gregorio, who has admitted receiving bribes from Berlusconi, told prosecutors: "Pescod said he would talk with their minister of justice.
"Some time later he told me he did that and spontaneously wrote me that letter in which he points out, 'I have been in touch with Hong Kong and have been able to brief them.'"