Appeal for Sze to be left alone

THE elder brother of Michael Sze Cho-cheung begged his creditors not to harass his sibling after being beaten into revealing the Secretary for Civil Service's phone number and address, a court heard yesterday.

On March 1 this year, three thugs bluffed their way into Sze Cho-sing's office and broke his wrist after he reneged on a $500,000 business deal, prosecutor John McLanachan said. The trio had ordered him to write an IOU for $500,000, with Mr Michael Sze as the unwitting guarantor.

The 58-year-old businessman had told his attackers he did not have enough money. 'I asked them not to harass my younger brother,' he told the District Court.

Merchant Mok Siu-hing, 51, has denied handling stolen goods. Chan Tung-kwong, 37, denies robbery and false imprisonment.

Last September Mr Sze Cho-sing, owner of a seafood trading company, agreed to buy $530,000 worth of preserved shrimp from Mok, and paid a $220,000 deposit. When his buyers rejected the shrimp because of poor quality, Mr Sze refused to pay the balance, Mr McLanachan said.

Mok took Mr Sze to court in December last year, and he was ordered to pay up.