High-profile event called by alleged triad leader Kwok Wing-hung scrapped after ‘something happened’
JEFFIE.LAM@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 29 December, 2015, 11:25pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 30 December, 2015, 9:33am
PR man Ben Lam Tsz -pan tells the assembled media the press conference has been cancelled. Photo: SCMP Pictures
As press conferences go, this was not run of the mill. Reporters and photographers turned up in full force. Police were there too – in plain clothes, of course.
Depending on who you choose to believe, the focus of the attention was either a controversial businessman, a big player in what is often referred to as the underworld, or an alleged triad boss known as “ Shanghai Boy”.
READ MORE: Alleged Hong Kong triad leader punched in face at Peninsula hotel while having tea
Regardless, five minutes after the press conference called by Kwok Wing-hung in a plush Wan Chai tower was due to start at lunchtime yesterday, it was off.
Kwok, 57, who is neither a boy nor from Shanghai, failed to show and the waiting media pack had to make do with an explanation from his reporter-turned PR man, Ben Lam Tsz -pan, that “something” had happened to prevent his boss from showing up.
Pre-publicity material claimed Kwok – subject of a much-publicised “attack” in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui this month which left him requiring hospital treatment – would respond to “unfounded” allegations against him.
Last night, a promised statement explaining the reasons for the abortive press conference had not materialised. And the whereabouts of the man who came to public prominence for attending a dinner with Leung Chun-ying’ s 2012 election campaign managers and supporters, were unclear.
“I talked to Kwok about 10 minutes ago and he decided to cancel it,” said Lam, adding “something has happened” to his client which had stopped him from showing up.
Lam revealed two lawyer’s letters, the details of which he refused to disclose, had been sent to him at the meeting venue in Wan Chai half an hour ahead of the scheduled press conference, but curiously denied they were the reason behind the cancellation.
He also said Kwok had neither been arrested nor injured, adding he had not heard of his client’s plan to leave Hong Kong despite reports suggesting he had already fled, and that a man linked to the controversial figure had been attacked just hours earlier.
“My understanding is Mr Kwok is free and alive,” added Lam.
The former Next Magazine and Metro Daily journalist also claimed the high-profile press conference had drawn concerns from various parties – including the central government – but he personally had not received any threats.
Lam, who suddenly resigned from the executive committee of the Hong Kong Journalists Association the day before yesterday’s media farce, raised many eyebrows by working for Kwok.
In March 2012, Leung’s campaign team denied colluding with triads after they were found to have dined with Kwok and several rural leaders of the powerful Heung Yee Kuk at a Lau Fau Shan seafood restaurant a month before the chief executive election.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1896405/shanghai-boy-and-high-profile-hong-kong-press-conference-never-was
