Advertisement
Advertisement
Police cover the body as people arrive for work. Photo: Felix Wong

Update | Bank executive, 31, jumps to death from workplace ‘after dispute with girlfriend’

A 31-year-old man jumped to his death from a bank tower in Hong Kong's Central this morning after an argument with his girlfriend, according to a police source.

A banker apparently jumped to his death from the roof of his office tower in Hong Kong's financial district after telling his girlfriend by email that he was unhappy with their relationship.

Lui Yau-man, 31, was wearing a suit when he was found in a flower bed by a security guard at Citibank Plaza in Central at about 7.15am.

Police said paramedics declared him dead at the scene.

As people arrived to start work, officers put a green tent over the body and cordoned off the area. The body was removed at about 11.30am.

Lui worked as assistant vice-president in the risk-management department of the Fuzhou-based Industrial Bank, a national commercial bank that has its offices in the ICBC Tower within the Citibank Plaza complex.

Lui - who was a middle-level employee - is understood to have joined the bank early this month.

Initial inquiries showed the man left his 39th-floor office to head to the roof, according to a police source. Officers found his security pass on the roof.

A police source said he appeared to have jumped to his death over his relationship.

"He had sent an email to his girlfriend to talk about problems in their love affair and expressing his unhappiness before he left his office and went to the roof," the source said.

He added that police would be talking to the girlfriend to find out more details.

One of Lui's colleagues said it was a sad and tragic incident.

While no suicide note was found, a police spokeswoman said initial investigations had found nothing suspicious.

The man's body was found in the flowerbed at the foot of this tower complex. Photo: Felix Wong

Citibank Plaza sits behind the Bank of China Tower on Garden Road. The tenants are mainly multinational banking and financial services companies.

A spokesman for the Industrial Bank said the bank was assisting police with their investigations and that it was inappropriate to comment further.

He said the Hong Kong office was opened in March last year and it was the bank's first branch outside the mainland. He added it was one of the 10 biggest national commercial banks.

Last February, an investment banker at JPMorgan jumped to his death from the roof of the firm's headquarters in Central. A police investigation showed the 33-year-old man had told a colleague his work had put him under enormous stress.

In another incident yesterday, an Indonesian domestic helper, 35, fell to her death from a third-floor flat in the Serenity Park housing estate in Tai Po Tau Road, Tai Po, at about 8.30am. Police said initial investigations found nothing suspicious.

The Samaritans Hong Kong has a 24-hour hotline to help people in despair on 2896 0000.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Banker leaps to death from roof of office tower
Post