Restaurant company fined HK$35,000 over retirement dinner for Scout Association executive

A restaurant company was fined HK$35,000 and the operator HK$2,000 and signed a one-year bind-over order on Tuesday over the retirement dinner for a senior executive of the Scout Association of Hong Kong staged three years ago. 

The dinner, celebrating the retirement of the association's deputy regional commissioner for the Kowloon region Gilbert Yu Woon-wai, was staged at Yue Cuisine on the eighth floor of the Hong Kong Scout Center in Jordan in April 2021. 

The dinner – joined by over 100 and in breach of the 20-people Covid gathering cap at the time – was revealed by media reports and alerted the Office of the Licensing Authority under the Home Affairs Department. 

Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant Ltd – the mother company of Yue Cuisine, the two operators, Chan Kin-tung and Chung Ting-him, and the association were each issued a court summons for failing to comply with the directions of the Covid health regulation Cap 599F. 

The association and the company were also charged with breaching the condition of a certificate for running the premise. 

The company then faced the third charge of breaching Cap 599G for allowing the gathering of a prohibited group. 

The case was mentioned at Kowloon City Court on Tuesday before magistrate Frances Leung Nga-yan, and the company was fined HK$35,000 after admitting to breaching the health regulations Cap 599F and 599G. 

Chan signed a one-year bind-over order for HK$2,000. And the remaining four court summons were dismissed after the prosecution offered no evidence. 

When passing down the sentences, Leung referred to the security camera footage that the gathering was a large-scale event and the Covid rules had been in place for quite some time. 

She noted it is unlikely that the respondents will commit the crimes again. Yet, Leung ruled out the chances of Yue Cuisine being an exception, as she added the court has handled similar cases in the past involving restaurants of larger sizes that faced tremendous losses. 

“We all understand that Hong Kong's catering business is going through a really tough time,” she said, but she hoped the public could also understand that the laws aim to contain the spread of the virus.