Former adviser to CY Leung arrested on fraud charges

Ex-adviser to CY Leung and former Executive Council member Barry Cheung was arrested this morning on fraud charges.

The 59-year-old former chairman of the failed Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx) was arrested at his Happy Valley home at 7am by the Police Commercial Crime Bureau. He and Jacky Choi, the financial controller of HKMEx, will face one charge of conspiracy to defraud at the Eastern Court today, while Cheung will face an additional charge of fraud.

Cheung has been accused of using falsified bank documents to cover up his debt and defraud the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), according to Oriental Daily. A Malaysian businessman, surnamed Ong, was recently jailed for six months after he pleaded guilty to possessing a fake bank record which said he had USD516 million (HKD4 billion) in capital, a copy of which was found at the HKMEx offices in 2013.

Cheung, who served as an adviser to Leung Chun-ying during his chief executive campaign, was later appointed to the Executive Council when Leung took office in June 2012. The 59-year-old founded the HKMEx in 2011 but was forced to surrender its trading licence to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in 2013 due to its deteriorating financial position. He was later declared bankrupt in 2015.