Tycoon Lai to sell villa after burglary
MEDIA tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying plans to sell his two-storey villa in Tai Po Road, which was raided by armed robbers last Sunday.
Mr Lai last night said: 'I do not know the price or how I will sell it.' A branch supervisor at Ong's Properties said the firm had been contacted by a middleman appointed by Mr Lai to help 'look for potential buyers'.
Supervisor Simon Tsoi Yuk-sang said: 'Mr Lai said this site might be put on sale and asked us to do some preparation and look for potential clients.
'But he hasn't yet given us full details of the place and we can't send in surveyors to carry out a valuation.' The secluded Cheung Sha Wan villa, built in the 1950s, has a living area of 3,443 square feet.
But it could be rebuilt into a four-storey building, with a total area of 21,520 sq ft and a value of $70 million.
The villa, Pinehill, has a swimming pool and a garden, in which Mr Lai used to keep an180-kilogram Asiatic black bear. The bear, seized by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department in 1993, was sent to a Thai wildlife breeding centre in May this year.
The only neighbouring property is a petrol station about 50 metres away. The house has panoramic views of Cheung Sha Wan district.
Mr Lai's newspaper, the Apple Daily, said yesterday he was making the move in the aftermath of the robbery because he wanted to live in an apartment block.
Lax security was blamed for the raid on Sunday when four suspected illegal immigrants tied up Mr Lai, his in-laws, his pregnant wife and two children, and stole $2 million worth of valuables.
Mr Tsoi said: 'There are definitely several potential buyers as it is not easy to find a good site.
'And with Mr Lai's fame, people will be attracted to it.'
