Buyer’s bonus or brazen theft? The legal fight over HK$30 million Mark Six prize

A group of 14 government employees can only recover their shares of a HK$30 million (US$3.8 million) Mark Six windfall through civil legal proceedings after a colleague allegedly refused to split the prize and disappeared, a lawyer has said.

Vitus Lawyers principal partner Vitus Leung Wing-hang told the South China Morning Post on Monday that retrieving the money would not be easy for the victims, who work at the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department office.

Leung added that the 36-year-old colleague, arrested on Friday on suspicion of theft, would still face criminal charges even if he returned the disputed funds.

“If that person is found guilty, the bank account doesn’t belong to the other 14 people. So the bank will not release the money immediately. We have to go to civil court,” he said.