THE parents and sister of a suspected drug trafficker must forfeit $600,000 after he failed to show up for his trial in the High Court last December, Mr Justice Saied ruled yesterday.
Cheung Chi-kit had been given cash bail of $200,000 in October 1991 by the principal magistrate at Sha Tin. His parents, Mr Cheung Ngor-lung and Ms Cheng Bo-chon, sister Ms Cheung Chi-mun, and girlfriend Ms Apple Ng Siu-ping, put up sureties of $200,000 each.
After Cheung failed to turn up for trial, Mr Jeremy Cheung on behalf of all four sureties argued they should not forfeit the cash.
The judge found the family members were willing to bail Cheung out, out of a misplaced sense of family loyalty.
He said the only one of substance was Ms Cheng Bo-chon, 56, who earned $3,800 a month working in a garment factory, but owned a shop that was rented out for $9,000 per month. In 1991 she produced a bank book showing a credit of more than $114,000 and a deposit of more than US$14,000 (HK$109,000) but the judge said the balance had decreased to $8,300 by January this year.
The girlfriend produced six fixed deposit receipts in foreign currency amounting to about $200,000.
The mother said she had raised the cash bail by borrowing $70,000 from a clansman, $100,000 from advance shop rental and the balance was put up by her and her daughter.
