Teresa Cheng's Husband Denies Illegal Pool Charge

The husband of Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng has pleaded not guilty to illegally installing a pool at his luxury home in Tuen Mun.

Otto Poon, a top engineer and past president of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, denied a charge that he knowingly carried out building work without government approval.

His lawyer, senior counsel Gerard McCoy, told Tuen Mun court that he will argue that the pool does not legally constitute “building work.”

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Poon said he’s “100 percent confident” that he will be found not guilty.

“The pool is a modular, free-standing pool. It was assembled with panels, and on top of the panel, we put in a plastic bag [sic] to hold the water, and that’s the construction of the pool”, Poon said. “It was placed on the garden floor with no anchor, no pin, no nothing, and it’s not attached to the building as such, so it is not a building, so that’s why I say the accusation is incorrect.”

The trial is scheduled to start on March 26.

The Department of Justice announced last month that it will not prosecute Teresa Cheng over suspected illegal structures at her home, right next to Poon’s house.

Director of public prosecutions David Leung agreed with the assessment of an independent expert that there was no reasonable chance to secure a conviction against the minister, but that her husband should be prosecuted for breaching the Buildings Ordinance.

The controversy has dogged Cheng since the very early days of her appointment as the city's legal chief, but officials have confirmed that various unapproved alterations at her home in Lok Chui Street, including an unauthorised basement and a rooftop structure, were already there when she bought the property in 2008.