Barry Cheung: rapid fall from grace of city's 'best civil servant'
Widely admired for his talents, Barry Cheung's undoing was his pursuit of an ambitious dream
He was once Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's top aide, and Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor called him the city's best public servant.
But former Executive Council member Barry Cheung Chun-yuen fell from grace amid a series of legal woes. He was declared bankrupt yesterday.
The 57-year-old is due to learn his fate on Monday for failing to pay a former employee at his failed Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx), an electronic platform for trading in gold and silver futures. A court ordered it wound up in April last year for failing to pay creditors.
Before his fall, Cheung was involved in a vast range of public services, from advising on civil servants' salaries to the city's long-term development strategy.
Lam once said of him: "He is not even one of the best. He is the best."
Cheung's father, Cheung Hon-chung, fled communist rule for Hong Kong in the late 1940s. Cheung grew up in Tiu Keng Leng, studied mathematics in the United States and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.