A bankrupt who borrowed $5 million from his solicitor girlfriend was yesterday ordered by a judge to perform 200 hours of community service.
Michael Poon Pak-ho, 39, pleaded guilty on March 8 to three counts of obtaining credit without disclosure of his status as an undischarged bankrupt and two counts of evasion of liability.
Poon had borrowed more than $5 million from Agnes Lau Ling-yun by March 1998 after meeting her in mid-1995, the District Court heard.
Ms Lau reported him to police in 1998.
Defence counsel Paul Dinan said love must have blinded Ms Lau if she was unaware of Poon's financial difficulty when lending him money.
'The expression 'love is blind' is never more apposite than in this case. Ms Lau turned a blind eye to what was going on and going wrong in the defendant's life,' said Mr Dinan.