Hong Kong judge questions whether liquidation of California Fitness being sought to pass on responsibilities to others

A High Court judge on Wednesday questioned whether owners behind the closed California Fitness gym chain were trying to pass on their responsibilities to other parties by liquidating the company.

But in his first public attempt to clear the air, former owner Wong Ping-kuen, who sold the gym chain to his brother and applied for a winding-up petition, denied any ulterior motive.

“I didn’t want the company to close,” he told reporters, just hours after the first petition hearing, insisting that he was not trying to sneak money out.

More than a week after the closure of the California Fitness branch in Whampoa, it was revealed for the first time in court that about 64,000 members and 700 employees of JV Fitness, which runs the gym chain, had been left in limbo.

Mr Justice Jonathan Harris, who is handling the petition filed by Wong’s BeSpark Technologies Engineering firm against JV Fitness, said: “Liquidation should not be used as an expedient way to restructure a company.”