International liver expert George Lau Ka-kit is suing three other senior doctors for alleged malicious defamation arising out of 16 years' hostility over an unpaid debt.
In the High Court writ, filed on Wednesday, Dr Lau said he was asked by Lai Ching-lung in 1991 to pay a HK$150,000 deposit on a Porsche sports car Dr Lai was buying and the money was never returned.
Dr Lau - a professor in clinical hepatology at the University of Hong Kong and a consultant at Queen Mary Hospital - said that when he asked for repayment, he was told his career would be ruined if he pressed the claim.
Besides Dr Lai, chair professor in hepatology at Queen Mary, the writ names Matthew Ng Mar-tai, chief of service at Tung Wah Hospital, and Lai Kar-neng, chair professor in nephrology at Queen Mary and the university.
The writ claims the three doctors made defamatory remarks about Dr Lau in various ways, accusing him of being incompetent at work and suggesting he was guilty of professionally misconduct.
The writ says the alleged defamation was believed to have resulted from the hostility harboured by Dr Lai Ching-lung and Dr Lai Kar-neng towards Dr Lau.