Jason Poon sentenced to one month in jail after insulting Labour Tribunal judges online

Construction industry figure Jason Poon Chuk-hung was sentenced to one month in prison by the High Court on Thursday for civil and criminal contempt of court. In addition to the jail term, Judge Queeny Au-Yeung Kwai-yue ordered Poon to pay more than HK$262,000 in legal costs to the Department of Justice.

Former assistant of Poon Chuk-hung, Poon Siu-man, filed a lawsuit in August 2021 with the Labour Tribunal seeking unpaid wages. The Tribunal ruled in Poon Siu-man’s favor in December 2022.

Poon Chuk-hung appealed and applied to the Tribunal for a transcript of the trial, signing a promise not to disclose or reproduce the document.

However, he subsequently uploaded screenshots of the transcript online and used vulgar language to insult the judges of the Labour Tribunal, calling the judge handling the case "trash."

His two Facebook posts garnered 816 likes and 201 comments. He also uploaded two videos to YouTube, in which he said, "What kind of officials are those in labor courts? Hey, those who have fallen to the bottom are all garbage…”

He had claimed that the frustration and pressure from the labor trial loss and the company's liquidation impaired his judgment.

Au Yeung stated that his remarks were not merely criticism of the court's ruling but rather insults and attacks on judicial personnel, "scandalizing the court," which was sufficient to undermine public confidence in the judicial system and constituted criminal contempt of court. 

Furthermore, Poon Chuk-hung deliberately violated his promise not to release the court transcripts, which were not intended for related litigation or appeal leave applications. 

He even invited the public to view the documents on his social media platforms, which was tantamount to violating a court order and constituted civil contempt of court, Au Yeung stated.

During the sentencing hearing, the defense requested probation and indicated their intention to appeal the decision within seven days.

However, Judge Au-Yeung criticized the defense’s lack of preparation and pointed out that there are no established guidelines requiring the court to grant probation in such cases.

Following the sentencing, the former assistant expressed satisfaction with the court's decision, noting that they were pleased to see Poon held accountable with a custodial sentence.