Revelation in Hong Kong stock exchange filing about Justice Minister Teresa Cheng’s links with top engineering company renews debate over beneficial interest
- Stock exchange filings reveal Teresa Cheng as a ‘substantial shareholder’ in Analogue Holdings, a top engineering company founded by her husband
- The company was awarded government contracts worth HK$1.2 billion in 2018/19
Hong Kong’s justice minister has been revealed as a “substantial shareholder” by law in her husband’s newly listed company, sparking questions about whether she should have declared that to the public as a matter of accountability, even though she was not obliged to.
And critics pointed to the revelation to argue the interest declaration system of the city leader’s cabinet – the Executive Council – is flawed.
Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah’s links to Analogue Holdings, one of the city’s largest electrical and mechanical engineering companies, were made public on Monday based on its latest disclosure on the Hong Kong stock exchange, which stated the veteran barrister “is deemed” to share majority ownership of the company just like her husband and company founder Otto Poon Lok-to.
Poon controls 63.48 per cent of Analogue, via a family trust. Cheng’s name was never mentioned in any listing documents before.
The company was awarded government contracts worth HK$1.2 billion (US$152 million) in the last financial year.