The founder of now-defunct home appliance and furniture chain store DSC and his wife were arrested around noon yesterday as they returned from Macau to Hong Kong.
Hui Ming-shun, 61, and his wife Lin Wai-yin, 55, were held in police custody last night over their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to defraud, reports the SCMP.
The police awaited their return from Macau after receiving reports from DSC suppliers of furniture and electrical appliances that were not paid for.
At least 350 of the company’s 900 employees have also lodged claims of unpaid salaries with the Labour Department, and the Consumer Council has received nearly 500 complaints relating to prepaid undelivered orders.
Nothing pisses people off more than paying for a sofa that never shows.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung said the wages, severance pay and holidays owed to DSC employees total up about HKD10 million, but the total combined payment awaiting from DSC suppliers and employers is roughly HKD60 million.
The couple bravely fled the city a day before the closure of the chain’s 14 stores on Aug. 3, leaving hundreds of employees jobless.
It is understood that they returned to Hong Kong to talk to the authorities and settle their obligations, like actual grown-ups.
However, yesterday afternoon, a lawyer for Hui informed the Labour Department that his client would not be attending the meeting with staff to discuss the outstanding wages.
DSC employees are now looking to the government to draw from the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund to pay their back salaries. The government has, however, confirmed that the process for ex-gratia payments cannot start until the firm’s insolvency is confirmed.
Any failure of both parties to reach a consensus on the amount of claims would also result in a delay for the DSC employees hoping to see their hard earned cash any time soon.
Probably sucks to be them even more than those poor people struggling through life without a sofa.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
