Wife and daughter of late Hong Kong tycoon spared jail despite contempt of court conviction
Judge orders payment of HK$200,000 and calls loss of reputation ‘significant punishment’
The third wife of late tycoon Lim Por-yen and their daughter, convicted of contempt of court for breaching court orders on document disclosure, were spared jail, while the sentencing judge stressed there was “no room” for thinking the court would let wealthy individuals buy their way out of prison.
Koo Siu-ying, 79, and her daughter Pearl Ling Meng-chu, 58, were each ordered at the High Court on Wednesday to pay HK$200,000 in fines within 14 days.
The mother and daughter were convicted on March 8 after failing to obey a 2011 court order to produce certain documents before a liquidator’s deadline for closing down a company in their name.
Passing sentence, High Court judge Madam Justice Queeny Au Yeung Kwai-yue said contempt of civil court orders was a serious matter and that court orders were “made to be obeyed”.
The judge noted the documents in question were eventually produced by Koo and Ling, albeit late.
She found the documents were unhelpful to the liquidator, but that was because of their nature, not because of Koo and Ling’s selective disclosures.
“The contempt proceedings created a sensational picture of two wealthy ladies in a well-known family in Hong Kong wriggling their way out of an extensive breach of court orders,” she said.
The judge added Koo and Ling “brought suspicion to bear upon themselves” and that the actual impact of their breaches “was not substantial”.
She described the loss of reputation arising from a finding of guilt as amounting to a “significant punishment” for them.
“There is no point in sending two remorseful individuals to prison,” she said.
Upon hearing the sentence, Koo and Ling embraced. They said through their lawyer that they would not lodge an appeal.
Koo’s late husband was married four times. Lim founded Lai Sun Group and built his business empire on clothing before expanding into property, retail and television.
Lim controlled now-defunct broadcaster Asia Television for 10 years but sold most of his stake in 1998.
