A blackmail defendant has hit back at his alleged victim, saying the latter threatened to ruin him and have him "detained" on the mainland, the High Court heard yesterday.
Businessman Koon Wing-yee said Hui Chi-ming, then chairman of a listed company, went back on his word to give him 200 million shares and then threatened him.
Koon, 57, is charged with teaming up with four others to extort the shares from Hui, the former chairman of Hong Kong-listed Sino Union Petroleum and Chemical International (Sunpec).
Yesterday, Koon took the stand for the second day to fight charges of blackmail and theft.
He told the court that in December 2007, Hui promised to give him an extra 250 million Sunpec shares as an incentive if he bought HK$200 million worth of the shares.
But up until April 2009, 200 million of the promised extra shares remained outstanding, Koon said.
At meeting on April 29 that year, Hui told Koon that he would not fulfil the commitment after all, because a planned share-placement deal with Henderson Land Development's chairman Lee Shau-kee had fallen through.