Lawmaker Mandy Tam Heung-man has won her legal battle against the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, with a High Court judge yesterday ruling its decision to stop distributing her newsletters to accountants was unlawful and irrational.
Ms Tam, who represents the accountancy sector, was awarded legal costs by Mr Justice John Saunders for the judicial review she brought in the Court of First Instance in July.
He ruled that the institute erred in law by failing to consider several relevant criteria to justify its decision in October to refuse to provide Ms Tam a mailing service for her newsletter to reach 26,000 fellow members. He ordered this decision be set aside in ruling in favour of Ms Tam.
'It is open to the council of the institute to consider the matter again, having regard to the terms of [yesterday's judgment] and the matters that it must take into account and the proper weight that is to be attributed to those matters.'
Ms Tam's solicitor, John Clancey, said: 'The council could reconsider the matter, but now they should have Ms Tam's newsletters delivered, unless they come up with another, lawful, decision.'
Mr Justice Saunders said in his judgment that very strong reasons would be required to justify the institute's departure from the practice of distribution, which had been in place for 20 years.
The court heard during the judicial review that the institute's refusal had been made to segregate the views of Ms Tam from those of the institute's governing council.
