Will There be Justice?

DSC boss Hui Ming-shun returned to Hong Kong was arrested yesterday

We are glad to hear the boss of defunct furniture and home electronics retailer DSC and his wife were arrested yesterday from arriving from Macau, a week after they disappeared. They conveniently covered themselves up with face masks, baseball caps and hoods.

One wonders what they were doing in Macau -- perhaps trying to double down to win back more money?

Hui Ming-shun, 61, and his wife and co-founder Lin Wai-yin, 55, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and still remain in police custody.

Meanwhile the staff are still waiting for their unpaid salaries and marched to Hong Kong government headquarters at Tamar to demand the authorities speed up the process of getting their money.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung came out to speak to the 70 or so DSC employees, but he didn't give them much good news.

"This morning we contacted the lawyer of Mr Hui to demand him to sign a declaration of insolvency and to determine as soon as possible the amount of money he owed to his employees," Cheung said.

"Once we receive Mr Hui's declaration, the Labour Department will help the employees to apply for legal aid to petition to wind up the company."

What happens if Hui doesn't care to declare bankruptcy? Does that mean he doesn't have to pay the staff what they are entitled to?

In the meantime the government says it will start determining how much money each employee is entitled to receive from the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund, with a maximum of HK$289,000 per person.

It seems Hui and Lin owe some HK$10 million in wages, and another HK$10 million to landlords and suppliers. They recently sold their Kowloon Tong flat, but who knows what other debts they have, or if they have squirreled their money away elsewhere.

The Labour Tribunal hearing on this case will be on August 21. It will be interesting to hear what Hui has to say in his defense...

An Unfortunate End

There were 14 DSC stores in Hong Kong, selling furniture and home ware

The police, customs and labour officers are all investigating what happened to the demise of DSC, that sold furniture and electronic products from washing machines to televisions.

It closed down as of Monday morning when hundreds of staff arrived at work to find all 14 shops in Hong Kong were shuttered.

Not only are the staff out of work, but there are at least 348 customers who still haven't received the items they ordered.

There is no sign of where Hui Ming-shun (left) has gone

It also turns out the owner of DSC, Hui Ming-shun sold his home in Kowloon Tong a few months ago and could not be reached. He owes the staff one month's pay as well as severance pay.

In addition, there were signs that DSC, or Direct Sales Centre was in financial trouble, as the retailer had been sued by landlords for unpaid rents totalling about HK$3.3 million.

The Labour Department is figuring out if it can criminally prosecute Hui for not paying staff their finally pay cheque and severance, but one employee said that even though DSC comprised of some 900 staff, only 200 to 300 of them were permanent employees; the rest, like delivery workers, were hired by contractors and did receive their July pay.

This is too bad, as when I arrived in Hong Kong over five years ago, I furnished my tiny flat in Sheung Wan with furniture from DSC.

A friend had recommended I go check it out, and compared to Ikea, DSC offered many more options and styles that seemed more solid in construction, and pretty good service.

Notices posted on Monday said DSC stores were shuttered

My round wooden dining table for four people was only a few hundred dollars complete with chairs, while a mattress could be customized to fit the tiny one-bedroom space I had. The closet too was the right size and price, as well as a decent cushion stool.

From purchasing these items, I was invited to pick up some free items, such as a cutlery set and power bar.

It was annoying at the time to find out there were different delivery dates for different items, but the guy who came in to build my closet did so in less than 30 minutes. That to me epitomized Hong Kong.

But now hard economic times have also come to epitomize the city.

It's frustrating to hear shops going out of business, employees being laid off and people struggling to make ends meet.

We don't know the full story behind the demise of DSC yet, but we wish the laid off employees find themselves back on their feet soon.