Former Hong Kong district councillor fights HK$140,000 bankruptcy petition
- Tommy Cheung is asking for more time to pay his creditor Colin Lai, after agreement to settle debt in monthly instalments fell through
A former district councillor and student leader who has failed to pay back HK$140,000 (US$17,925) has appeared in Hong Kong’s High Court to object to a bankruptcy petition filed by the creditor, arguing more time should be given to settle the debt.
Tommy Cheung Sau-yin, 30, represented himself at the hearing on Tuesday after his creditor, secondary school teacher Colin Lai Tak-chung, earlier filed a petition to seek the court’s declaration that Cheung was unable to pay his debt.
Lai claimed they had agreed in 2022 that Cheung would pay HK$5,000 every month to clear a loan of HK$160,000 provided between November 2020 and May 2021. But Cheung stopped the payments after making four instalments last year.
Cheung told the court he was willing to pay the debt and asked Master Matthew Leung Man-liang to make a calculation of the total amount, including costs and legal fees, that he should be billed.
Cheung, also a former president of the student union of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, objected to Lai’s petition, stressing that he had tried to pay him back on time before the agreement between the two fell through.