Former Easyknit Group Chairman accused of blackmail

"Ex-company boss accused of HK$135m blackmail
Loretta Fong
Sep 09, 2009

The former chief executive of the Easyknit Group, Matthew Koon Wing-yee, and three others threatened a businessman and demanded that he give them 100 million shares in his company after losing money trading the shares, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

The allegation was made by a lawyer for the businessman as part of civil proceedings in which the man, known only as X because of an order in another court preventing the publication of his name, is claiming HK$135 million from the four.

Daniel Fung Wah-kin SC read a statement from X in response to an application by Koon, Ng Chi-keung, Chan Kwai-nam and Wong Chin-yick to lift an interim injunction granted earlier that froze the HK$135 million X is seeking - equivalent to the value of the shares."

Source of Singaporean Wealth?

``Actually, Singapore's success came mostly from being the money laundering center for corrupt Indonesian businessmen and government officials,'' Xie wrote in the e-mail. ``Indonesia has no money. So Singapore isn't doing well.''

Canton Chairman nailed

Bank president authorizes $500+m to his cronies, no doubt getting kickbacks, he (Liu Chanming) then disappears.

One of the thieves will now face a trial which no doubt will end sadly in some back gully. More of the missing funds will no doubt be used to buy more protection services from the 'authorities'.

The loans were allegedly channeled through subsidiaries of Canton Properties, which suspended trading in its shares after Wang disappeared in August 2008 and most of the company's board resigned.

Public company, Private bank

Sea Holdings Group (0251) on the HK stock exchange.

A 97% owned subsidiary, Asian Growth Properties Limited:

Results for the six months ended 30th June, 2009.

Balance sheet:

From the Notes:

16. AMOUNTS DUE FROM/TO A MINORITY SHAREHOLDER

The amounts are unsecured, interest free and repayable on demand.

USD$2m for a shareholder, Chairman's mistress? Got to pay it back if she strays. Nice work if you can get it.

Much better terms than any private bank.

Another chairman disappears

Hopson sheds no light over missing chairman
Naomi Rovnick and Peggy Sito
Sep 01, 2009

Hopson Development Holdings (SEHK: 0754) was unable yesterday to clarify the whereabouts of its chairman, Chu Mang-yee, who investors, analysts and bankers claim has not appeared in public for more than six months.

However, chief executive Chen Changying did say Chu had not attended the property developer's most recent board meeting.

Brain fart of a CFO when asked....

Hopson chief financial officer Zhao Mingfeng, who was also asked about Chu's attendance at board meetings, said: "Why should I explain to you when he attends board meetings? This is your own concern, you should solve the problem by yourself."

China investment risk

Frightening article highlighting the lack of regulations in China, which unfortunately happens too often. Management gain owernership of companies through opaque background dealings and the lack of regulatory control and enforcement.

The safest path of China investment is in large cap/quasi government companies which can both withstand and punish (bullet in head) fraud.

Things didn't get better for them. Soon, they were told a new company was prepared to buy the main company's assets for $298 million as part of a restructuring plan. The plan would pay foreign creditors even less for their debt than Mr. Kwong's earlier offer, according to a preliminary estimate: senior-note holders would receive about 20 cents on the dollar, while the PIK noteholders who were owed a total of around $800 million, would receive just one cent on the dollar. That compared with 13.5 cents in the previous offer.

The buyer, called Golden Concord, immediately aroused suspicions among some investors because its management included unidentified Asia Aluminum executives. Creditors say Asia Aluminum's court-appointed receivers told them Mr. Kwong had no financial interest in Golden Concord, but little else.

Golden Concord didn't respond to requests for comment.

"I'm amazed the employees of a bankrupt company would have so much money that they could take it over," says Damien Wood, head of credit research for Asia ex-Japan at Credit Suisse in Singapore. "It just raises massive questions everywhere."

Some creditors tried to fight that plan, enlisting Norsk Hydro, a Norwegian aluminum maker, as a white knight. But even before Norsk Hydro could make a firm offer, government officials in Zhaoqing, the city where Asia Aluminum's facilities were based, issued a statement saying that they weren't interested.

Australian = racists?

No doubt about it, rednecks abound asunder...

"In Brisbane, the research suggested Chinese job hunters faced the greatest discrimination, having to send out more than double the number of applications to get the same results as their Anglo-Saxon counterparts."