Briefs, October 7, 2012
The son of the late Hang Seng Bank founder is suing auction house Sotheby's for more than HK$8.9 million in proceeds from the sales of antiques.
Rogerio Lam Sou-fung is taking action against the international auction house after he could not claim the money back from his long-term foe George Tan Soon-gin, a disgraced property tycoon now bankrupt. Tan, former head of the failed Carrian Group property empire, was earlier found by the High Court to have wrongfully sold the antiques he borrowed from Lam in 1982 at auctions held by Sotheby's.
Lam, in a writ filed with the High Court, claims Sotheby's "wrongly collaborated with Tan to unlawfully convert the antiques" to Tan and gave Tan the sale proceeds.
The two tycoons have been at loggerheads for more than 20 years, so much so that the High Court judge who presided over the original case said the hostility between the two was abundantly clear and they had a profound dislike for each other.
Tan was jailed for three years in 1996 after he admitted conspiracy involving US$238 million in secret loans obtained by Carrian from the Malaysian-based Bank Bumiputra. Lam, son of the late Hang Seng Bank founder Lam Bing-yim, was convicted in 2002 of a multimillion-dollar bank fraud. He was jailed for 20 months.
Scuffles broke out at HSBC headquarters in Central as Occupy Central activists returned to the site, where they were evicted last month, to play films and music. Police were called to keep order as security guards removed their equipment. Activists retreated to the nearby pedestrian area to continue their activities. An HSBC spokesman said: "It is a shame the occupiers have chosen to undertake this illegal act, taking up valuable public authority time and resources."
A 15-year-old "non-ethnic Chinese" boy was arrested in connection with a murder last month in a basketball court in Yuen Long. Police said he had been detained pending further inquires. They had already arrested eight Nepalis in connection with the case, and three were charged with murder. The others were released on bail. The murder took place on September 23 in Nam Pin Wai, when a 19-year-old youth was stabbed in the neck during a gang fight.
A man who reported his car missing ended up being arrested himself yesterday morning when police discovered that the vehicle had been involved in a drug trafficking case last year in Sai Kung. The police suspected that the 28-year-old car owner, who reported his car missing in Tseng Kwan O, was involved in drug dealing.
A middle-aged man was arrested in Mong Kok yesterday after trying to steal a 30-year-old woman's handbag in the street. She cried for help and police soon arrived to arrest the man.
