HK$100m rogue banker in new court row

A rogue banker who squandered HK$100 million of depositors' cash is now being sued by a lawyer who quit the profession after reportedly taking his trousers off in front of the media.

Former Billion International Holdings chairman Simon Chan Ying-ming was jailed for two years and five months in the late 1990s for running a bogus bank, and was described at the time by a judge as "driven by reckless greed and ambition".

Now, in a filing on New Year's Eve, former lawyer Chu Tak accuses Chan of failing to pay him HK$1.36 million as part of a complicated agreement made in July last year.

Under the deal, the filing said, Chu was to deposit money into accounts with brokerages and give the account numbers and passwords to Chan - who was to then give them to one Gordon Poon Tung-hoi. Poon would use the accounts to trade in Hang Seng Index options and futures.

Chu and Chan were to split the profits when they hit 10 per cent or higher, the filing said, and Chan would indemnify Chu against any losses.

Millions were deposited into the accounts and Poon began trading. Some HK$1.51 million was lost. Chan earlier paid off HK$150,000, leaving HK$1.36 million unpaid, the writ says.