Tycoon Li Ka-shing's flagship company Cheung Kong (Holdings) yesterday lost the first round of a legal battle against a politician who alleged it received preferential treatment from the Government.
Mr Justice William Waung Sik-ying rejected Cheung Kong's attempt to strike out part of Democrat Albert Chan Wai-yip's defence against a defamation suit brought by the company. The judge ordered Cheung Kong to bear 90 per cent of Mr Chan's costs in fighting its application.
The flagship of Mr Li's business empire is suing Mr Chan, a former legislator, over public statements he made about its dealings with the Government.
The legal action has not yet gone to trial in the Court of First Instance. Cheung Kong made the application to prevent Mr Chan from pleading various aspects of his defence.
'It seems to me that the plaintiff is demanding too much and is thereby taking away the role which ought to be properly played by the jury in a defamation case,' Mr Justice Waung said in a written judgment.
He said this stage of proceedings was not the place to say whether a particular allegation was incapable of being proved.
