The High Court yesterday threw out an application by ousted Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) chairman Walter Kwok Ping-sheung for a judicial review of the handling of his defamation complaint against a lawyer.
The SHKP chairman had filed the complaint with the Law Society against solicitor William Kwan Cheuk-yin.
In November 2008, Kwan told the SHKP board of directors that when Kwok behaved "totally out of character" he would make decisions that "could do harm" to the company.
Kwan, a non-executive director of the company, made the remarks about a year after Kwok fell out with his younger brothers, Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen, and six months after Kwok was replaced as chairman of the property giant.
Kwok was unhappy that the society had asked him to come back only after he had concluded any other legal action he might take against Kwan.
He also questioned why the society would not immediately decide whether it would refer the case to a disciplinary tribunal.