Tycoon 'made HK$1.8b from Macau land deal'
Tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung did not directly participate in a bid for land in Macau, so businessman Steven Lo Kit-sing could pocket nearly HK$2 billion, a Macau court heard yesterday.
Lau, chairman of developer Chinese Estates, and Lo, chairman of BMA Investment and convenor of the South China soccer club, are accused of offering a HK$20 million bribe to Macau's former transport and public works chief Ao Man-long in 2005. The bribe was allegedly to help Lau and Lo secure the land near Macau's airport for the La Scala luxury residential development.
Witness Lee Tung-leung, an investigator with Macau's Commission Against Corruption, told the court Lau bought 70 per cent of Lo's company Moon Ocean for HK$1.6 billion, soon after the firm won the HK$1.32 billion bid through property agent Jones Lang LaSalle in 2005.
Lau bought the remaining 30 per cent of Moon Ocean for another HK$1.6 billion in 2011, four days after the Macau government increased the permitted construction area by about 30 per cent. The company had been applying for more space to build on since 2007, the court heard.
Asked by Lo's lawyer Jorge Neto Valente why, if Chinese Estates intended to buy the land from the beginning, it did not participate in the land bid in place of Moon Ocean, Lee said: "Lau could have bought the land for HK$1.32 billion, but instead, he paid HK$3.2 billion, so Lo could pocket HK$1.8 billion."
Lee added: "But it was Chinese Estates which lost the money, not Lau." He did not elaborate further.
Lee also said he found it strange that Lau did not buy the 70 per cent of Moon Ocean in an agreement between a company under Chinese Estates and Moon Ocean for HK$1 million.
Instead, Lau terminated the contract and less than a month later, bought the firm for HK$1.6 billion, he said. Under the first agreement, Lo would have had to pay Lau a large amount of interest if Moon Ocean did not secure the land for La Scala.
