Gone are the days when the excuse of ill-health would be greeted with a yawn and a nod from shareholders at an annual general meeting. Reassurances were thus made from the outset of yesterday's Citic Pacific meeting that chairman Larry Yung Chi-kin was absent because he was recuperating from orthopaedic surgery. Not Sars. Citic's managing director Henry Fan Hung-ling declined to say which part of Mr Yung's skeleton went under the knife. It may have been ironically fortuitous given that Mr Yung was likely to have a feisty confrontation with do-gooder David Webb. Mr Yung has lost his temper a few times with pesky members of the press who have asked critical questions. And Mr Webb made no secret of the fact that he was going to challenge management by opposing a number of motions and querying a few corporate governance issues and connected transactions. He managed to even ruffle Mr Fan's feathers at the meeting yesterday, by suggesting shareholders' interests were flouted in a controversial telecommunications deal last year. The managing director responded with a rare show of emotion. It seems Mr Yung wasn't the only one taking his medicine. HO AND HO ARE GO China Rare Earth is investing in the old adage of 'third time lucky' with the appointment of new auditors yesterday. Ho and Ho. No, seriously, it has enlisted the services of Ho and Ho & Company. With just 20 qualified accountants in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the firm is definitely smaller than its predecessors Ernst & Young and KPMG, who both ditched China Rare Earth in the space of a month. But it is staying schtum on how much it is charging the company. Reports suggest China Rare Earth's chairman has been left with a HK$3 million to HK$5 million bill for audit fees from one of the big four accountants that briefly worked for it. Ho and Ho partner Steward Ho Sik-lan would not reveal the remuneration details pertaining to his company. He is more interested in the high profile his firm will receive from the relationship. 'Fees are our secondary consideration,' he said. Ho ho ho. PROPERTY IS THEFT? The new management at China United Holdings has a few bones to pick with former director Peter Lam How-mun. The HK$470 million sale of a North Point property, for one. China United claims it was really worth something in the region of HK$108 million. An 87-page writ was filed at the High Court yesterday with a selection of colourful accusations against Mr Lam and fellow ex-directors Kwok Wai-tak and Kwok Wai-ming. China United says it bought the property at a 'gross overvalue' and is seeking the difference of HK$362 million along with damages. The North Point building was sold to the company by a firm which was 80 per cent owned by Mr Lam and 20 per cent by Paul Y-ITC Construction Holdings. As a director of China United, Mr Lam did the shareholders wrong by selling the property to it for HK$470 million. According to the writ, the sale was an attempt to 'dishonestly extract considerable sums' to the detriment of stakeholders. And the name of Mr Lam's company? Get Rich Enterprises. The suggestion is that indeed it did, but at the expense of China United's shareholders.