The wife of development chief Paul Chan Mo-po refused yesterday to disclose the ownership details of her company, which is under fire for owning unauthorised subdivided flats - even as more land records pointed to her possible role in subleasing the apartments.
Frieda Hui Po-ming, replying to the South China Morning Post last night, said she could not name the shareholders of two offshore firms that own Harvest Charm Development, which she co-owns. Harvest has two flats in Tai Kok Tsui and Jordan: one is subdivided into five units, the other three.
'I am sorry that I cannot disclose the identity of other shareholders against their will,' Hui said.
Her husband, who took over as secretary for development on Monday, finally broke his silence and faced the media over the controversy, in which his wife is accused of having knowledge of the partitioning.
Chan said he was never a shareholder of the company and that he quit as a director in 1997, three years after the company bought the two flats. Hui resigned as director of Harvest when the new administration took office on July 1.
A Stock Exchange filing by Chan in 2003 described Hui as the sole owner of Orient Express Holdings, the major shareholder of Harvest. The other offshore firm is said to be Strategic Assets Holdings, ownership of which is unclear.
Hui - contrary to her previous statement that the firm was a family business - said in a statement that she was not a controlling shareholder, although nominally she was.