Tourism village in liquidator's sights
After lying idle for almost six years, the 30-hectare Holland Village tourism development in Shenyang , Liaoning province , formerly owned by jailed businessman Yang Bin , is a step closer to being sold.
The Guangzhou Daily reported that the first meeting of creditors of Euro-Asia Agricultural Holdings, the parent firm that owns the project, was due to be held yesterday, marking the official start of liquidation. But Shenyang Intermediate People's Court, which is handling the case, denied knowledge of the meeting.
The court announced in July that it had accepted a joint application by three construction companies to start the liquidation of Euro-Asia, and it asked other creditors to register.
A second announcement one month later said 17 companies held by Yang - who was once the second-richest man on the mainland and identified by Forbes magazine as having assets worth US$900 million in 2001 - were on the liquidation list.
There have been several attempts over the years to take over the Holland Village project, an agricultural, tourism, residential and commercial project. All failed because of the complicated debt and land-use rights arrangements.
In June, Country Garden Holdings signed a framework agreement to invest US$2.5 billion to develop the Holland Village project.
In the meantime, 'owners' continued to occupy residential buildings in the village, despite lacking the necessary documentation.
One of Yang's aunts was taken into police custody in July for selling 'assets seized by legal authorities'. She was selling dozens of apartments amid rumours the project would be taken over.
Yang, 45, a Dutch national, was sentenced by the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court to a maximum 18-year sentence in 2003 after it found him guilty of bribery, raising capital under false pretences, illegal use of farmland, financial fraud and using false financial statements.
Euro-Asia was listed in Hong Kong in 2001 and de-listed after Yang was jailed.
