Former Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung hit with new HK$20 million lawsuit

Jailed former soccer boss Carson Yeung Ka-sing faces a new lawsuit, this time over a HK$20.5 million loan he allegedly accepted on behalf of the cash-strapped company behind Sing Pao Daily News, a High Court writ shows.

Yeung, a majority shareholder of Sing Pao Media Enterprises, was accused of taking the money from the company's executive director Du Jian Jun in February last year - shortly before he was jailed for six years for laundering more than HK$721 million on March 7.

According to the writ, Du agreed to enter into a project with Yeung to acquire Sing Pao Media - the oldest Chinese newspaper in Hong Kong.

He claimed he paid Yeung a total of HK$20.5 million that February as an interest-free loan to the company supporting its operations.

In return, Yeung promised to submit a financial restructuring plan to the stock exchange so trading of the company's shares, which were suspended in April 2005, could resume, the writ said.

Du claimed Yeung was in breach of the agreement as "[he] has failed to provide any viable restructure plan for submission to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited for resumption of trading for Sing Pao".