Hong Kong businessman Jason Poon jailed for 1 month for contempt of court

A Hong Kong businessman who has taken on corruption in the construction sector has been jailed for one month for contempt of court over remarks he made on a YouTube livestream two years ago.

The High Court. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

High Court Judge Queeny Au-yeung on Thursday sentenced Poon to one month in prison and ordered him to pay HK$262,000 in legal costs after he pleaded guilty to two counts of contempt, local media reported.

Poon was charged in November 2024 after saying in a YouTube livestream, following his loss in a labour dispute case, that a Labour Tribunal judge was “bottom-tier” and “garbage.”

He also directed YouTube viewers to two Facebook posts in which he had disclosed parts of the court transcripts, according to case details.

In mitigation, Poon said he had no intention of interfering with judicial proceedings and that his actions were fuelled by frustration. He also said he was willing to issue formal apologies on the two social media platforms and pleaded for a suspended sentence.

Judge Au-yeung handed down an immediate custodial sentence of one month behind bars.

Poon shot to fame in 2018 after he became a whistleblower in an MTR project corner-cutting scandal.

Jason Poon. File photo: Jason Poon, via Facebook.

As the head of a subcontractor for the rail operator, he revealed that top railway officials were aware of substandard work in the Hung Hom station expansion.

More recently, he has focused on flagging issues in residential renovation projects, including the quality of scaffolding nets and the bid-rigging epidemic.

Last month, he was arrested and released on bail over alleged government loan fraud.