Hong Kong customs arrests CEO and director of scandal-hit drug rehabilitation centre

Customs officers have arrested the chief executive and a director of a scandal-hit drug rehabilitation centre in Hong Kong, after the now-closed institution allegedly failed to refund students as promised.

The Post learned the person arrested on Wednesday was CEO Lee Kwok-kei, aged 47, of the Christian Zheng Sheng Association, which operates Christian Zheng Sheng College, a drug rehabilitation centre in Ha Keng on Lantau Island.

Authorities a day earlier arrested 66-year-old Reverend Siu Yu-fat, who serves as a vice-chairman on the association’s board.

The college suspended operations on Sunday, after its bank accounts had been frozen by police since January.

Customs said the pair were arrested on suspicion of having applied for a false trade description for the service supplied, and of engaging in unfair trade practices involving a misleading omission, in contravention of the Trade Description Ordinance.

“Customs earlier received information alleging that a staff member of a rehabilitation institution falsely claimed to a customer [saying] the prepaid book fees for a two-year training course could be refunded,” it said. “However, the institution did not refund the fees to the customer in the end.”

It added that the pair had claimed the accommodation deposit paid by the customer would be refunded after his children completed the course.