Source:
https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3003348/otto-poon-engineer-husband-hong-kongs-justice-chief
Hong Kong/ Law and Crime

Otto Poon, engineer husband of Hong Kong’s justice chief, accused of ‘unauthorised’ pool construction at Tuen Mun villa

  • Husband of justice chief Teresa Cheng denies carrying out construction without approval
  • Offence carries a maximum sentence of a HK$400,000 fine and two years in prison

The 78-year-old husband of Hong Kong’s justice minister was accused in court on Tuesday of bypassing building regulations to construct a pool at his Tuen Mun villa which could compromise the safety of his home.

West Kowloon Court heard that the Buildings Department inspected Otto Poon Lok-to’s Villa de Mer property in Tuen Mun on January 9, 2018, and found a garden pool that was not on the approved building plans or the Lands Department’s aerial photographs taken on April 2, 2017.

Poon, a senior member of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers, pleaded not guilty in January to knowingly commencing or carrying out building works without obtaining approval from authorities and consent in writing.

The offence carries a maximum sentence of a HK$400,000 fine and two years in prison under the Buildings Ordinance. Poon is the husband of Hong Kong’s justice chief Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah.

Otto Poon, husband of Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng, arrives at the West Kowloon Court in Sham Shui Po on Tuesday. Photo: Sam Tsang
Otto Poon, husband of Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng, arrives at the West Kowloon Court in Sham Shui Po on Tuesday. Photo: Sam Tsang

The pool measured 2.5 by 4.65 metres and 1.24 metres deep, with a maximum capacity of 14.4 cubic metres or 14 tonnes. The structure consisted of four lightweight steel panels secured in the shape of a container with a blue plastic liner inside to form the pool. It was removed on January 19, 2018.

A government surveyor said the pool would impose significant structural implications for the garden, which sits on a suspended slab supported by reinforced concrete walls. He said the pool would exert 12 kPa when filled with water.

Prosecutor Edwin Choy Wai-bond SC argued that Poon, as a co-owner of the property, built the pool after he bought the villa in 2012, intending it to form a permanent feature in his garden.

“As this ‘addition’ imposes a significant weight onto the slab structure and its concrete walls, the safety of the overall building structure could be compromised if the plan to add this pool structure had not been properly scrutinised,” Choy said in his opening statement.

“Given [the defendant’s] line of work and experience, he fully understood that building the pool structure required the submission to the Building Authority and its approval.”

The court must decide if building works were carried out to set up the pool, if approval was obtained and whether Poon knew building works were carried out before written consent was obtained.

Neither party disputes that Poon did not submit plans for approval in the case. At issue is whether the building of the pool required the submission of plans to the Building Authority for approval.

Choy said the phrase “building works”, under the Buildings Ordinance, includes any kind of “building construction, site formation works, foundation works, repairs, demolition, alteration, addition and every kind of building operation, including drainage works”.

“As the explicit intention behind the enactment of the ordinance is to ensure the safety of buildings, the legislation would fail to provide such protection if it is interpreted to be powerless to regulate the building of a water pool carrying 14,000kg of water on top of a structure such as the slab on which [Poon’s] garden is situated,” Choy said.

Michael Pang, the Buildings Department’s chief surveyor at the time of the Poon case, appears at West Kowloon Court on Tuesday. Photo: Jasmine Siu
Michael Pang, the Buildings Department’s chief surveyor at the time of the Poon case, appears at West Kowloon Court on Tuesday. Photo: Jasmine Siu

Michael Pang Yuk-lung, the Buildings Department’s chief surveyor at the time of the Poon case, said that government regulations had not clearly classified a swimming pool as a building.

But he said the pool in question was a building and said its construction fell under the category of building works. He said he had observed that it was a relatively large structure built to hold a large volume of water and that it was intended to be placed there and not moved around.

Pang also pointed out that, according to the Buildings Department, water tanks exceeding a capacity of nine cubic metres required approval.

Defence counsel Gerard McCoy SC countered that Pang was not qualified to give expert evidence, because he had worked for the government for the past 20 years and lacked independence.

“He purports to give expert evidence way outside the scope of his expertise,” McCoy said.

The trial continues Wednesday before So Wai-tak, the acting chief magistrate.