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SCMP Reporter

Two senior employees were accused yesterday of lying in court to shield the Oriental Press Group and its chairman, Ma Ching-fat.

 Mak Kam-keung and Wong Yeung-ng had 'defied all logic' by insisting their boss was kept in the dark about a paparazzi blitz on a senior judge, prosecutor Ronny Tong SC told the contempt of court trial.

 Mr Mak, the chairman's personal assistant, claimed his boss was unaware of the month-long episode in which the group's flagship newspaper, the Oriental Daily News, levelled abuse at members of the Judiciary, culminating in a three-day media hunt against Mr Justice Gerald Godfrey.

 Instead of alerting Ma to the growing outrage against the paper, Mr Mak said he reported the campaign and its reaction 'to the general manager'.

 Mr Tong described the episode as 'unreal' and said Mr Mak had lied in court. Mr Mak was 'doing his best to wriggle his way out of his previous statements', he told the Court of First Instance.

 Wong, chief editor of the paper at the time and now company controller, claimed the decision to launch slurs against the Judiciary and mount the paparazzi blitz had come from him.

 He never told Ma what was going on, he said.

 But Mr Tong said it was 'incredible that a journalist with 24 years' experience . . . would not tell his chairman that the Government was pressing for prosecution of the Oriental Press Group'.

 Starting in December, the paper published seven articles levelling racial slurs at Mr Justice Godfrey, Mr Justice Anthony Rogers and members of the Obscene Articles Tribunal, the court was told earlier.

 In January, the paper mounted a three-day paparazzi blitz on Mr Justice Godfrey.

 The surveillance began after the judge refused to allow the Oriental Press Group to take rival Apple Daily to the Court of Final Appeal over the reproduction of pictures of pregnant singer Faye Wong.

 'It defies all logic and common sense for anyone to suggest that Mr Ma, chairman of a group which owned a newspaper with the largest circulation in Hong Kong, was not aware of the paparazzi trail organised in the Oriental Press Group's name,' Mr Tong said yesterday.

 'And in view of wide coverage by other media and almost universal condemnation from all sectors, the issue is not whether or not the matter was reported to Mr Ma. He took no steps to stop the paparazzi.'  The Oriental Press Group, Ma, Oriental Daily Publisher Ltd and two of its directors, Lam Shun-choi and Lam Shun-chuen, and Wong deny contempt of court.

 The hearing continues on Monday before Chief Judge Mr Justice Patrick Chan Siu-oi and Mr Justice Brian Keith.



Newspaper duo 'lying to protect boss'