Friend sues ex-plastic surgeon for HK$12m over loans tied to manslaughter case

A former Hong Kong plastic surgeon has been sued for more than HK$12 million he allegedly owes to a friend who lent him the money to help him contest a manslaughter charge arising from a botched botox injection eight years ago.Retiree Diana King Yuen-fung initiated the lawsuit in the High Court on Thursday demanding that Franklin Li Wang-pong immediately return the money he borrowed through 14 bank transfers between May 2023 and August 2024.Li, 94, was implicated in a high-profile trial last year for gross negligence while performing a botox procedure on a 52-year-old banker at his clinic in Grand Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui, on November 11, 2018.He was granted an absolute discharge in November after a High Court jury found him unfit to stand trial due to advanced dementia.The panel nonetheless ruled that Li had committed all the acts alleged in the indictment, including his failure to properly assess the risks of administering sedatives to the patient and the concealment of critical information from police and hospital staff.Prosecutors dropped 21 separate charges of misleading police and failing to maintain a register of dangerous drugs against Li earlier this year, citing his mental condition.