Villa executives accused of plotting to siphon funds
A court hears that two directors allegedly deceived lawyers to release money from buyers of the flats
Two top executives of the property firm behind the failed Villa Pinada project appeared in Eastern Court yesterday accused of plotting to deceive a law firm into releasing funds deposited by the buyers of the Tuen Mun complex.
Gold-Face Holdings' managing director Tai Chi-wah, 47, and financial controller Lim Hau-chun, 50, faced a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud between December 10, 2001 and January 27 this year.
Both defendants are directors of True Gold Investments - the subsidiary of Gold-Face Holdings which developed Villa Pinada. They were detained by the Commercial Crime Bureau and charged on Thursday.
The court heard the defendants allegedly conspired with other people to defraud Paul Daniel Emerson, the principal in the firm of Emersons solicitors, which maintained an account for stakeholders in the project with the Bank of China (Hong Kong). The money had been deposited by buyers of uncompleted flats.
It was said that Tai and Lim created fake documentation relating to construction work supposedly completed on Villa Pinada by Gold Falcon Engineering. After receiving the allegedly fake documents, the solicitors released to True Gold funds from the buyers' account, the court heard.
It is alleged the two defendants disposed of the bulk of the funds for purposes unconnected with the project's construction.
The amount of money involved was not discussed and no pleas were taken yesterday.
Prosecutor Robert Lee originally applied to adjourn the case for four months to allow time for the police investigation and preparation for trial. The prosecution did not object to the defendants' bail.
However, solicitor Andrew Lam Ping-cheong urged the court to resume in two months. Magistrate David Dufton agreed, adjourning the case until August 1, and released Tai and Lim on bail of $1.8 million and $1 million respectively. They were each ordered to put up cash surety of $500,000, surrender their travel documents and report twice a week to police.
