bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

A TURKISH businessman ordered and paid for 5,000 colour televisions from Hong Kong's Great Wall Electronics (International), but when he took delivery of 13 containers in Istanbul, he found only a few bags of cement in each.

  Now, AS Elektronik is planning to sue the publicly-listed supplier for the US$1 million (HK$7.72 million) it claims has been lost on the deal arranged by an employee who has apparently fled to China.

  The chairman of the Turkish company, Huseyin Coruk, said yesterday that he began doing business with Great Wall earlier this year after his representative, Altan Guler, met the other's sales manager, Lusade Leung.

  The relationship got off to good start when Mr Coruk placed and received his first order for US$403,000. The payments were made to Video Epoch, a subsidiary of Great Wall.

  Excited about the quality and price, Mr Coruk and another Turkish electronics importer came to Hong Kong to meet Great Wall representatives again.

  They saw Mr Leung and several other employees at the company's office in Kwai Chung and finalised details for a US$602,000 order for 5,000 colour TV sets.

  In a fax under the letterhead of Pan-Asia (International), reportedly another Great Wall subsidiary, Mr Leung told Mr Coruk to transfer the money to the bank account of a subsidiary, Wind Surf Co.

  When Mr Coruk went to the Istanbul docks on December 8 to pick up the shipment, he opened the first container, which still had its original seal, but found nothing but a few bags of cement.

  Dismayed at his discovery, Mr Coruk called in an independent inspection firm, Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), and Turkish Customs officials to inspect the remaining 12 containers for a report.

  They found cement in all 13 containers.

  Mr Coruk immediately telephoned Great Wall and asked to speak to Mr Leung, but was told he was out of the office until December 13.

  He also faxed a copy of the SGS report on the contents of the containers to Mr Leung.

  Mr Coruk was contacted by Great Wall vice-president Erick Cheung, who told Mr Coruk the company had no knowledge of AS Elektronik's orders since June.

  Mr Coruk tried to freeze payment of US$318,000 he had made to clear the containers from customs.

  But he was told that the China State Bank had already credited Pan-Asia's account.

  Mr Coruk arrived in Hong Kong on December 12 and the following day met five officials from Great Wall.

  He was told that Mr Cheung had gone to the police but they were not interested in the case.

  He also learned that Mr Leung had not shown up for work since December 6 and a letter had been sent to Mr Leung telling him he would be fired if he did not appear at work by December 11.

  The company contacted Mr Leung's family, who said he was somewhere in China and was not returning to Hong Kong.

  Mr Cheung said Pan-Asia was a customer of Great Wall, but it had been closed since October. A corporate search revealed that the address given for Pan-Asia was a residential address owned by Ip Ka-man, Wong Sze-wan and Wong Kuan-chu.

   At the end of the meeting, Angelina Goh, who was introduced as a new employee of Great Wall, asked Mr Coruk to give details about his loss.

  She said she would need until December 15 to consider what to do.

  On December 15, Mr Coruk and his solicitor, Susan Liang, met Great Wall representatives and were surprised to meet Commercial Crime Bureau detective senior inspector Mark Butler at the office.

  Mr Coruk said he was told by Mr Butler that Great Wall had lost HK$7 million after it failed to receive payment for a deal completed by Mr Leung with a Russian importer.

  Ms Liang said Mr Coruk decided to go public to inform other potential clients about his problems with Great Wall.

  She said Great Wall was negligent because it failed to implement an adequate system to guard against people such as Mr Leung.

  Great Wall's Mr Cheung was not available for comment. Rex So, a solicitor with J. Chang Yip So & Partners, which is representing Great Wall, declined to comment on the case due to concern about contempt of court.



5,000 TVs ordered, cement arrives