The High Court ruling clears the way for control of Chau Ching-ngai's former firm to pass to a retired Shenzhen judge The former trading arm of Shanghai Land boss Chau Ching-ngai has seen receivers discharged and control is expected to pass to a retired Shenzhen judge who picked up the disgraced businessman's 63.19 per cent stake for $11.5 million. A High Court judge on Wednesday removed two staff from Grant Thornton as receivers of Shanghai Merchants Holdings during a closed-door hearing, according to sources. This followed legal action by two newly appointed directors. The pair, Yue Jialin and Brent Lau Yau-cheung, were appointed to the Shanghai Merchants board during a special general meeting last month but had no powers as directors while the receivers were in place. Mr Yue's British Virgin Islands company, Profit Harbour Investments, acquired Chau's majority stake - held by his wholly owned company Angel Field - for $11.5 million in September last year while the businessman was in custody on the mainland. Once ranked by Forbes as the mainland's 11th-richest man, Chau is awaiting a verdict from a Shanghai court following a trial on charges of fraud and stock manipulation. Chau's activities ensnared BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) after it emerged the bank loaned $1.77 billion to the businessman's private flagship New Nongkai Global Investments without any knowledge of his net worth. The scandal prompted a review of the bank's credit approval system, which put the incident down to errors of judgment. Receivers from Grant Thornton were appointed to Shanghai Merchants in June last year at the request of then directors amid fears over the preservation of assets. They remain in place as receivers under a court order in Bermuda, where Shanghai Merchants is incorporated, but this is expected also to be reversed. The receivers had questioned transactions or transfers of funds exceeding $69.9 million, triggering legal action to recoup the money. It is unclear if this litigation will be pursued by the company. Shanghai Merchants is at the second stage of delisting, so the new directors will have to apply to the stock exchange to resume trading. All employees of the group have either been dismissed or resigned. A magistrate in Shenzhen's Luohu district between 1989 and 1993, Mr Yue, through Profit Harbour, was left with a 63.58 per cent stake in the company after shareholders representing just 0.39 per cent of Shanghai Merchants' share capital took up a mandatory cash offer. The price on the table was equivalent to an 83 per cent discount on the company's shares and was dubbed unattractive and unreasonable by independent financial adviser First Shanghai. The adviser said the offer did not take into account potential sums recoverable through litigation and the value attached to the listing status of the company. After serving as a judge, Mr Yue took up a post at the Trade Development Council, where he vetted Shenzhen branch offices of foreign investors, and is now a director of Shenzhen Hai Jia Hua Consulting. Mr Lau is the manager of BH Capitalink Development, a money-lending company in Hong Kong. Shanghai Merchants has yet to release results for last year. The company's 2002 annual report said the trader suffered a loss of $50 million on turnover of $403.74 million. This was despite a 1,058 per cent increase in turnover from the previous year from $38.1 million.