Barry Cheung faces jail over failure to pay wages
In mitigation, counsel says former mercantile exchange boss could be declared bankrupt
Former executive councillor and chairman of the failed Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange Barry Cheung Chun-yuen could face jail after pleading guilty yesterday to failing to pay an employee, moments before his lawyer revealed his client was expected to be declared bankrupt.
In mitigation, barrister Lawrence Hui Cheuk-lun told Kowloon City Court that his client Cheung, one of the 12 former directors of the now defunct exchange, would face a bankruptcy petition filed by a creditor in a High Court petition on April 15.
Cheung, 57, admitted one count of failing to pay wages and another of failing to pay a sum ordered by a tribunal in legal proceedings that have lasted almost two years. He had previously denied both charges and had changed his counsel numerous times.
Magistrate Veronica Heung Shuk-han said the offence was serious as it involved a breach of a court order, a big sum of money and a lengthy period of time.
"I think imprisonment might be appropriate," she told the unemployed defendant.
Former employee Raymond Ma Shui-lung, to whom Cheung owed HK$340,000, said outside court: "He should not get away with it. He was feeding on people's goodwill."