Extradition procedure - stick them on a Sampan and point it North.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
HK/China police border fades
HK Real estate shenanigans
Available for a lucky buyer: HK$357m: 39 Conduit Road, West Mid-Levels
Developer: Henderson Land Development (0012)
"So just what floor is the semiduplex in question actually on? "I can't tell you the answer to that, but we will tell the buyer the unit is on the 66th floor. Our top unit will be on the 88th floor, and the second-highest floor will be the 68th floor," the spokesman said."
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
GP Nano from IPO to flames in 2 ears
Criminal charges.. where?
Ban on directorships for two former GP Nano executives
The former chairman of defunct GP Nano Technology Group, Fung Chiu, and former executive director Lian En-sheng were banned by the High Court yesterday from being directors of any company for seven and six years respectively. The pair were accused by the Securities and Futures Commission of giving misleading information about transactions involving GP Nano. The company listed in July 2001, but its shares were suspended from trading two years later. It was eventually delisted in June 2005 and wound up three months later. Enoch Yiu
How to strip a company in HK
Let's say you have a company listed on the HKEX and you have voting control and there are numerous family controlled companies on the HKEX.
The 3 simple steps to legally raping the public shareholders:
2. Issue warrants/convertible bonds to said BVI company at a STEEP discount, vote in favor of this.
3. PROFIT!!!!
Of course there is no requirement to disclose who really owns the BVI company.
What will the HKEX do? (Sweet FA)
More about how Tack Hsin (0611) company is doing it.
Thickest Choi
Yes, someone really did name himself that. Being "Thick" wasn't enough, he had to be the thickest.
Legacy of Tung Chee Wah's mother tongue language policy in local schools.
Willie wiley robbers in the wild
SCMP...
Toh Han Shih
Oct 06, 2009
Willie International Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed firm with a troubled past, has sold a stake in a subsidiary at a loss to a woman indirectly related to Stanley Ho Hung-sun.
On September 30, the company sold a 39.4 per cent stake in its previously fully owned subsidiary Cordoba Homes to Karen Lo Ki-yan for HK$450 million - a 25 per cent discount to Cordoba's net asset value - which resulted in a HK$90 million loss to Willie, the firm said in an announcement to the stock exchange.
Click here to find out more!
Cordoba's assets include residential and commercial properties in Hong Kong, a 20-storey commercial building on the mainland, "a yacht, artwork, paintings and a 10-carat diamond", said the statement.
Willie, which is involved in property investment, securities, money lending and energy, had a net profit of HK$135.75 million in the first half after consecutive losses from 2004 to last year.
Lo is a member of the family that controls the Vitasoy drinks empire and a sister of Sharen Lo, the wife of Lawrence Ho Yau-lung, the son of Stanley Ho.
From February 2005 to March 2008, Lo was vice-chairman of Hong Kong-listed Heritage International Holdings (SEHK: 0412), which has been a shareholder in Willie since 2005 and now holds a 28 per cent stake in the company.
In November 2005, 99.6 per cent of Heritage independent shareholders voted against a plan to buy a property in Mount Kellett Road on The Peak from Lo for HK$73.8 million.
On February 10, 2006, Heritage was fined HK$15,000 by the Securities and Futures Commission for failing to inform the Hong Kong stock exchange about Heritage increasing its stake in Hong Kong-listed 139 Holdings (SEHK: 0139), which is now called GR Vietnam Holdings.
In June 2006, the High Court allowed Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) (SEHK: 0636) to pursue a HK$235 million debt claim against Willie.
In that judgment, Mr Justice Anthony Rogers said Hong Kong's financial reputation and economic well-being were under threat.
In November last year, the SFC fined Willie chairman Henry Chuang Yueheng HK$350,000 for his involvement in the unauthorised withdrawal of more than HK$30 million in client securities held by Chung Nam Securities.
Willie has also conducted transactions with Hong Kong-listed Mascotte Holdings, which owns a 2.8 per cent interest in Willie.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Ex-Ernst & Young partner strips Akai assets
Even the auditors are in bed with the thieves. In a similar situation in the US there would be lynch mobs and blood on the streets, here in HK there is just ghostly silence from the regulators who are acutely aware who feeds them.
They claimed that David Sun Tak-kei, the independent review partner on the audit from 1991 to 19999, did a mere seven hours of work on Akai's audit in the three years leading up to the company's collapse.
Sun is now Ernst & Young's co-managing partner for the Far East, although he relinquished his other role as chairman for China and Hong Kong on September 30, the day after Ernst & Young's premises were raided by the Commercial Crime Bureau.
Another ex-partner accused of raping Akai by moving it's assets to one of his own companies now settles for US$100m.
The HK police have opened an investigation into E&Y forgery (going by their record this won't amount to much) but hopefully they will open another case into Ho and Grande, not to mention the Akai founder, Ting.
HKEX does what it does best... sweet FA.
SCMP:
Akai saga ends with 'US$100m payout'
Naomi Rovnick
Oct 06, 2009
Almost a decade after the spectacular collapse of Hong Kong electronics conglomerate Akai, the saga has ended with the failed firm's liquidators securing a major moral and financial victory for its creditors.
Hong Kong tycoon Christopher Ho Wing-on and his locally listed company Grande yesterday settled a High Court case brought against them by Akai's liquidators, Borrelli Walsh. The payout exceeded US$100 million, people familiar with the negotiations said.
Borrelli Walsh began suing Ho and Grande for up to US$500 million in late 2007. They claimed Ho conspired with Akai's former chairman James Ting to strip the failed company's assets, so there was nothing left in the business for its creditors. They have also claimed Ting plundered US$800 million from Akai, concealing the thefts with the use of fake bank accounts and fabricated investments. Ho and Grande have denied the claims against them.
On September 23, Borrelli Walsh wrested about US$400 million out of Akai's former accountants, Ernst & Young Hong Kong, which it had accused of audit negligence. The accountant's defence collapsed after the liquidators said the firm had falsified some of its evidence. Hong Kong police are now investigating that claim.
Akai collapsed in 2000 owing more than US$1.1 billion to creditors, including HSBC (SEHK: 0005, announcements, news) and Standard Chartered. When liquidator Cosimo Borrelli took charge of the business in 2001, he found just US$167,000 worth of cash and assets, according to previous court rulings. In the mid-1990s, Akai had more than 100,000 staff and owned brands including America's Singer Sewing Machines, Akai Electric and Sansui.
In November 1999, Ting and Ho injected all of Akai's businesses into Grande, according to multiple court rulings. Akai's shareholders and banks were not told about the deal, which the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has never investigated. EY Hong Kong was alleged to have advised Grande on the transaction.
Ting was imprisoned for false accounting in 2005 but released a year later on appeal, following errors in the prosecution's case.
Grande Holdings now licenses the Akai and Sansui brands to electronics manufacturers, according to its most recent annual report.
The settlement has saved Ho from a potentially embarrassing session in the witness box. He was due to be cross examined by the liquidators' barrister Leslie Kosmin QC.
Last week Ho, through his lawyers, told the court he borrowed HK$500 million for gambling from Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau, casino mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun's holding company. Kosmin said the loan document the Grande boss provided did not look authentic.
In February, Mr Justice William Stone froze Ho's assets to stop him potentially shielding his wealth from the liquidators.
Ho breached the terms of that order by "siphoning" HK$300 million of cash through his family trust, Stone wrote on September 1. Ho then lost control of all his assets, which the judge placed into receivership. With the settlement, this order has been reversed.
Ho, who did not appear in court yesterday, could not be reached for comment. Grande could also not be reached.
Naomi Rovnick
Oct 06, 2009
Almost a decade after the spectacular collapse of Hong Kong electronics conglomerate Akai, the saga has ended with the failed firm's liquidators securing a major moral and financial victory for its creditors.
Hong Kong tycoon Christopher Ho Wing-on and his locally listed company Grande yesterday settled a High Court case brought against them by Akai's liquidators, Borrelli Walsh. The payout exceeded US$100 million, people familiar with the negotiations said.
Borrelli Walsh began suing Ho and Grande for up to US$500 million in late 2007. They claimed Ho conspired with Akai's former chairman James Ting to strip the failed company's assets, so there was nothing left in the business for its creditors. They have also claimed Ting plundered US$800 million from Akai, concealing the thefts with the use of fake bank accounts and fabricated investments. Ho and Grande have denied the claims against them.
On September 23, Borrelli Walsh wrested about US$400 million out of Akai's former accountants, Ernst & Young Hong Kong, which it had accused of audit negligence. The accountant's defence collapsed after the liquidators said the firm had falsified some of its evidence. Hong Kong police are now investigating that claim.
Akai collapsed in 2000 owing more than US$1.1 billion to creditors, including HSBC (SEHK: 0005, announcements, news) and Standard Chartered. When liquidator Cosimo Borrelli took charge of the business in 2001, he found just US$167,000 worth of cash and assets, according to previous court rulings. In the mid-1990s, Akai had more than 100,000 staff and owned brands including America's Singer Sewing Machines, Akai Electric and Sansui.
In November 1999, Ting and Ho injected all of Akai's businesses into Grande, according to multiple court rulings. Akai's shareholders and banks were not told about the deal, which the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has never investigated. EY Hong Kong was alleged to have advised Grande on the transaction.
Ting was imprisoned for false accounting in 2005 but released a year later on appeal, following errors in the prosecution's case.
Grande Holdings now licenses the Akai and Sansui brands to electronics manufacturers, according to its most recent annual report.
The settlement has saved Ho from a potentially embarrassing session in the witness box. He was due to be cross examined by the liquidators' barrister Leslie Kosmin QC.
Last week Ho, through his lawyers, told the court he borrowed HK$500 million for gambling from Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau, casino mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun's holding company. Kosmin said the loan document the Grande boss provided did not look authentic.
In February, Mr Justice William Stone froze Ho's assets to stop him potentially shielding his wealth from the liquidators.
Ho breached the terms of that order by "siphoning" HK$300 million of cash through his family trust, Stone wrote on September 1. Ho then lost control of all his assets, which the judge placed into receivership. With the settlement, this order has been reversed.
Ho, who did not appear in court yesterday, could not be reached for comment. Grande could also not be reached.
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