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JULIE CHU

Convicted former soccer boss Carson Yeung Ka-sing lost in his attempt to remove court-appointed receivers of Birmingham City Football Club’s parent company, as a High Court judge found he had used the company as his personal “cash dispenser”.
Yeung’s son Ryan was on the payroll of Birmingham International Holdings, getting HK$80,000 a month, while Yeung was in charge as a significant shareholder, according to the receivers’ reports, Mr Justice Anthony Chan Kin-keung noted.
Ryan, a full-time student, was also provided with an expensive vehicle and a flat for his use in Britain. His bodyguard received HK$40,000 a month.
Neither Ryan nor his bodyguard provided any service to the company or its subsidiaries.
“It must be pointed out that the investigations conducted by the receivers have revealed a very disturbing picture which suggests that Yeung was treating the company as his cash dispenser,” Chan wrote in his judgment.
Yeung asked the board of directors in December to remove the company’s chairman and executive director, and to appoint as directors his wife, his son’s bodyguard and a man who worked for him, the judge said.
“It is perfectly plain that Yeung is unhappy that the company has been taken out of his control, and he would like to restore it by exercising his voting right and electing new directors to run the board,” he wrote.
Yeung was jailed for six years in March last year on five charges of laundering HK$721 million. He was granted bail only two weeks ago, pending his appeal at the Court of Final Appeal.
After he requested a shake-up of the board of directors, the board applied to the courts for receivers to be appointed. The receivership order was granted in February, after which Yeung filed a discharge application to the courts to remove those receivers.
Chan noted the receivers had uncovered suspected misappropriation of funds by the previous management and prepared three reports about the accounts.
They were also negotiating with Trillion Trophy Asia, which was interested in the shares of Birmingham International and had agreed to provide cash of HK$9.8 million and a HK$153 million loan to the football firm.
“It appears that the receivers are doing a good job in keeping the company afloat, and taking actions to recover its losses from the wrongdoers,” Chan wrote.


Hong Kong judge rejects Carson Yeung's bid to remove court's receivers who exposed lavish payouts to son

Carson Yeung leaves the Court of Final Appeal in Central on August 14 after he was granted the right to challenge his conviction. Photo: Sam Tsang

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