Boss of Hong Kong broadcaster ATV fined HK$150,000 for not paying staff on time
A made-for-TV courtroom drama unfolds as executive director is sentenced for failure to pay more than HK$1.13 million in wages, overtime and termination payments
A dramatic round of applause erupted inside the courtroom yesterday after ATV's executive director Ip Ka-po was fined just HK$150,000 for failing to pay staff wages on time.
"Not only did he not leave [ATV] … he made it possible that the staff eventually got paid," deputy judge Kathie Cheung Kit-yee said in the District Court, pointing out that Ip himself had not been paid his full wages when the free-to-air station ran out of money last year.
The area outside the courtroom was packed with about 50 supporters, including some prominent ATV artistes, even half an hour before the door was opened.
The emotional scenes when the sentence was announced could have been taken from one of ATV's own dramas as Ip's supporters burst into relieved applause. He had been facing the prospect of a maximum fine of HK$350,000 and three years' imprisonment.
READ MORE: Hong Kong court convicted ATV boss for failing to pay staff for seven months
Ip had pleaded not guilty to 102 summonses for his role in the troubled broadcaster's failure to pay 24 employees' wages, overtime and termination payments worth more than HK$1.13 million within the legal seven-day limit. The court was told the case spanned seven months - from July last year until January.
All those owed money were eventually paid.
