Tax consultant Deborah Annells appeared in the High Court on Thursday seeking bail. This was refused by Mr Justice Patrick Li Hon-leung, and she was remanded in custody until June 6. Annells had been remanded in custody by Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai on April 15 at Eastern Magistrates' Courts on a charge of doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice. This related to using a false document to obtain a variation of bail at a court hearing on April 11. She also faced one count of fraud where she attempted to use the same false document to rent premises at Sea Bird House.
Annells is the founder and chief executive of AzureTax, which specialises in arranging the tax affairs of expatriates in Hong Kong. This sometimes involves setting up trust funds. In court appearances in November last year and in February this year, she was charged with 55 counts of theft and fraud involving more than HK$36 million.
To the LME Asia Dinner on Thursday night, one of the highlights of what is mysteriously called LME Week Asia even though it is actually a two-day event. About 1,400 guests turned up for dinner, much to the delight of the host, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the relatively new owner of the London Metal Exchange, since this was well up on last year's 800 guests.
It was a more subdued affair than the inaugural Asia dinner last year when HKEx's mercurial chief executive, Charles Li Xiaojia, appeared on the stage in a curious costume that we had to be told represented David Beckham. To give him credit, he was trying to bridge the gap between Asia and London. Traders-football-Beckham - geddit? This year's event quietly ticked over to James Bond-themed music together with alluring dancers. But Li just had to join in on stage for the final dance number. You can't keep a good man down.