Whistle-blower on Hong Kong’s Sha Tin-Central rail link construction scandal ‘made up stories’
- Lawyer accuses Jason Poon of fabricating claim about being forced to destroy photographic evidence
- But Poon says Paul Shieh SC is wasting taxpayers’ cash by haggling over trivial inconsistencies in his account
Sparks flew on Thursday at a high-level inquiry into a construction scandal involving Hong Kong’s most expensive rail project as the whistle-blower accused a key lawyer of wasting taxpayers’ money by haggling over trivial inconsistencies in his evidence.
During a fourth day offering his account of events to the commission of inquiry investigating shoddy work on the Sha Tin-Central link, Jason Poon Chuk-hung at one point lost his temper as he was grilled by Paul Shieh Wing-tai SC, who is representing the main firm on the project, Leighton Contractors (Asia).
Shieh accused Poon of making up stories about being forced by Leighton management to destroy a large quantity of photos related to faulty work on an expanded Hung Hom station platform for the rail line, which has cost the city HK$97.1 billion (US$12.3 billion).
He also said Poon had failed to include sufficient detail in his witness statements. There were a lot of discrepancies between his evidence at the inquiry hearing and his written submissions, Shieh said.
“You made up this story about the deletion of photos on your computer,” the lawyer asserted.
