Waste-paper company sues former employee for return of its Porsche

A businessman is being sued by his former employer for keeping a company Porsche and failing to repay HK$113,920 in credit card debt after he was fired.

According to a High Court writ, Billy Leung Ting-yu, 34, is being sued by Fook Woo Waste Paper, the listed company where he worked for five-and-a-half years until January last year.

Fook Woo wants the court to order Leung to return a Porsche Panamera 4S that has been in his possession since October 2010. Although Leung is the car's registered owner, the company says he holds the vehicle only in trust.

The company claims Leung has wrongfully kept the car, ignoring demands to return it since he was fired. The company says it was billed HK$21,724 in maintenance and other expenses stemming from the wrongful use of the car during the first eight months of last year.

According to the court document, Leung also continued to use a company credit card after he was laid off, running up a debt of HK$113,920, before the card was cancelled in March last year. The company has paid the debt and has asked Leung to reimburse it, without success.

Fook Woo wants the High Court to order Leung to return the car - in good repair, together with its keys and registration documents - and to pay the outstanding debts and compensation.

Trading in the company's shares has been suspended, and it announced in June that it would delay the reporting of its annual results pending the results of a forensic review of its finances. According to its website, Fanling-based Fook Woo engages in trading and making tissue paper products and recycled greyboard, and the destruction of confidential materials.