Two directors arrested after Physical Fitness closure
The Customs and Excise Department on Wednesday said they had arrested two individuals in connection with the shuttered Physical Fitness gym chain. The arrestees, a 67-year-old man and 68-year-old woman, were both directors of the company. The pair will be given bail pending an investigation. As of noon on Wednesday, customs officers had received 900 reports regarding the closure of Physical Fitness, involving prepaid fitness and beauty services amounting to some HK$38 million. Fong Kwun-ting, Group Head of Customs Unfair Trade Practice Investigation, revealed the department had reached out to over 500 complainants over the past four days and looked into the operations of the company. "Some of the branches have rent arrears. Moreover, we found that a day before the company announced its closure, meaning on September 5, it still sold prepaid gym and beauty services and accepted pre-payment from consumers," she said. "It has allegedly violated the Trade Descriptions Ordinance by engaging in wrongly accepting payments." Fong added her department would continue to look into the company's financial status before it ceased operations and whether it had any abnormal sales activities. Police officers also said they received 20 reports related to membership, personal trainer and beauty services. The amount of losses incurred range from HK$2,000 to HK$660,000. Police superintendent Eddie Chow added the police would treat the case as a criminal matter. Meanwhile, speaking on an RTHK radio programme, Consumer Council chief executive Gilly Wong revealed that a woman who paid HK$1.8 million for membership, as well as private classes for boxing, stretching and weightlifting, filed a report on Tuesday. The victim reportedly signed three contracts with the gym chain, including a 10-year contract that would become effective in 2026 and a three-year contract that would only commence in 2037. Some of the complainant's unused classes would remain valid until 2050, Wong added.