Simon World :: Things that get you down

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June 07, 2005

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Things that get you down

A tip for budding lawyers: being depressed isn't grounds of an adjournment:

[A] former "king of property,'' who speculated aggressively in the luxury market before suffering huge losses when the market crashed in 1997, was told he was wasting a court's time by claiming he was too depressed to answer an Inland Revenue claim for more than HK$23 million in outstanding taxes.

Chun Kam-chiu, former chairman of Keen Lloyd Group, sought an adjournment of the case Monday, because he thinks it is unfair that he should have to face trial even though he notified the Correctional Services Department that he was suffering from depression.

Justice William Waung replied: "I am depressed - to see you wasting the court's time. "Of course you are depressed - someone's suing you for HK$23 million. Depression is a common disease for a lot of Hong Kong people in trouble.''

Forget about rule of law...Hong Kong has rule of comedy. Not only was Mr Chun depressed, he had more problems.

Chun also said it was unfair that he should have to contest the case in English, a language unfamiliar to him, without legal representation.
Waung reminded him that he had filed to represent himself, and that there was a young woman next to him, interpreting for him.

Strike 2. Talk about entertainment. But for the grand finale:

Before he left court Monday, Chun implored reporters to return today "for a great show." Proceedings are expected to last two more days.

It hasn't disappointed so far. When you're in the hole for HK$23 million, it doesn't hurt to keep digging.

posted by Simon on 06.07.05 at 09:39 AM in the

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