Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC, after meeting with the families of the casualties of the Lamma Island tragedy:

Reporter: There have been accusations that the DoJ have not been serious enough in handling the case. What is your response to this?

Secretary for Justice: I was saying in Cantonese just now that that is absolutely untrue, and I would say anyone who is saying that is not fair to the hard work that has been done by my team of colleagues. I was saying in Cantonese just now that in fact the advice that the prosecution team gave to the Police, it has a total of 215 pages. They have considered tonnes of evidence and materials, and just in terms of the number of witnesses, it is a huge number of witnesses. Therefore, first of all, I would like to stress that it is absolutely untrue that they are not paying sufficient attention to the works that they were asked to do, that is point number one. Point number two, if I may also take this opportunity to stress that any accusation or suggestion that the Department of Justice is trying to hide the misdeed of any government officials, whether within the Marine Department or any other department, is also utterly untrue, and that has to be clarified. There is not a streak of evidence to suggest that, and I'm, to be honest, disappointed that such kind of accusation is so lightly made that is not fair to my colleagues in the Prosecutions Division.

Ends/Thursday, Mar 19, 2015