Ex-chairman was 'scared to go home alone after gangster demanded shares'
Former company chairman testifies he was too scared to resist extortion of millions of shares
The mention of the name Cheung Tze-keung struck terror into the heart of a blackmailed businessman as Cheung was "a gangster whom everyone in the business world would be scared of", a court heard yesterday.
Hui Chi-ming, former chairman of a listed company, said he was alarmed on learning that a man who had been extorting money from him was a disciple of Cheung.
He gave up 100 million shares in his company in March 2009 after the blackmailers told him that Wong Chin-yik was a leader of a "big circle gang" and also Cheung's follower, the Court of First Instance heard earlier.
And when Wong demanded a further 100 million shares on April 30 that year, he was at a loss and felt the extortion would never end, Hui said yesterday.
"There are rumours that Cheung has blackmailed and kidnapped many people, including wealthy people," he testified. "People also said he did despicable and cruel things to his abductees." He did not specify what those acts were.
He was testifying at the trial of Wong, 61, Koon Wing-yee, 56, Shum Man-keung, 59, Ng Chi-keung, 71, and Chan Kwai-nam, 62, who are jointly charged with two counts of conspiracy to blackmail and one of theft. Wong also faces a charge of blackmail and one of possessing arms at the time of committing blackmail.