Barry Cheung faces jail over failure to pay wages

[Hydra]

Barry Cheung faces jail over failure to pay wages

In mitigation, counsel says former mercantile exchange boss could be declared bankrupt

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 26 March, 2015, 2:37am
UPDATED : Thursday, 26 March, 2015, 2:37am

Chris Lau [email protected]

Former executive councillor Barry Cheung. Photo: David Wong

Former executive councillor and chairman of the failed Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange Barry Cheung Chun-yuen could face jail after pleading guilty yesterday to failing to pay an employee, moments before his lawyer revealed his client was expected to be declared bankrupt.

In mitigation, barrister Lawrence Hui Cheuk-lun told Kowloon City Court that his client Cheung, one of the 12 former directors of the now defunct exchange, would face a bankruptcy petition filed by a creditor in a High Court petition on April 15.

Cheung, 57, admitted one count of failing to pay wages and another of failing to pay a sum ordered by a tribunal in legal proceedings that have lasted almost two years. He had previously denied both charges and had changed his counsel numerous times.

Magistrate Veronica Heung Shuk-han said the offence was serious as it involved a breach of a court order, a big sum of money and a lengthy period of time.

"I think imprisonment might be appropriate," she told the unemployed defendant.

Former employee Raymond Ma Shui-lung, to whom Cheung owed HK$340,000, said outside court: "He should not get away with it. He was feeding on people's goodwill."

The court heard that the former chairman of the commodity trader owed Ma, a senior corporate communications manager, about HK$207,000 in wages from May to August 2013.

Cheung later ignored a Labour Tribunal order made in November 2013 for him to pay Ma HK$340,000, including benefits, within 14 days.

"It's my instruction that the defendant is unable to pay," Hui said.

But Hui said although his client was not able to pay Ma back, he could borrow money should the court decide to deal with his sentence by way of a fine. He said Cheung's legal costs had been paid by his family. The lawyer argued in mitigation that his client was "a man of integrity", who did not want to give the court an empty promise given his dire financial situation.

However, the magistrate replied: "He is also a man with no money."

She said Cheung could have used the HK$600 million Hui said he injected into the exchange before May 2013 to pay Ma.

But the lawyer said it was "a chicken-and-egg relationship", in that the fund was used to keep the company running so that everyone stayed employed.

He said Cheung's offence was a "single fall from grace" and that not only was Cheung "a man of good character", but also "a man of graceful conduct".

He read to the court 10 mitigation letters by Cheung's former co-workers from both the exchange and the Urban Renewal Authority, which he chaired. The magistrate stressed that a strong mitigating factor would be whether Cheung could settle the outstanding payment.

She ordered a community service report on Cheung and adjourned the case to April 20 for sentencing.

Cheung faces a maximum sentence of three years in jail and a fine of HK$350,000.