Hong Kong-based gaming hardware online retailer Lik-Sang.com has closed its doors, and it's firmly blaming Sony for its woes - even though many of the company's senior staffers have used its grey import service, the company alleged.

No more orders will be taken from today, the retailer said. Existing orders will be cancelled and refunded.

It's all Sony's fault, of course, for using the courts in London and Hong Kong to prevent Lik-Sang from selling PSPs to Europeans fed up waiting for the handheld console to come through official channels. This week, it emerged the English High Court had sided with Sony and rules Lik-Sang's unofficial imports to be unlawful.

However, Lik-Sang today alleged it wasn't just ordinary punters who made use of its service - it named four very highly placed Sony Computer Entertainment Europe executives it claims ordered PSP-related products via its website. The company described the list as a "who's who of the videogames industry" and it does, as you can see from the Lik-Sang website here.

Such sales allegedly go back to December 2004, more than nine months before SCEE launched its legal action against Lik-Sang.

Lik-Sang didn't detail the extent of the named individuals' orders or specify over what period the claimed activity took place. Lik-Sang said if the service was good enough for them, it was good enough for its consumers.

SCEE would not comment on the allegations beyond confirming that it is looking into the matter. ®