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Sunday 27 September 2009
Former Ernst & Young partner faces charge of doctoring evidence
Another key defendant in the legal battle over the insolvency of collapsed electronics giant Akai has been accused of lodging questionable evidence with the court.
Former Ernst & Young partner faces charge of doctoring evidence
Naomi Rovnick 25 September 2009
Another key defendant in the legal battle over the insolvency of collapsed electronics giant Akai has been accused of lodging questionable evidence with the court.
On Wednesday, accounting firm Ernst & Young paid hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a case where it had been accused of negligently auditing Akai. The case collapsed after the failed company’s liquidators claimed Ernst & Young staff had falsified and doctored evidence it used in court pleadings and witness statements.
In a separate High Court case, Christopher Ho Wing-On, a former Ernst & Young partner, is being accused by the liquidators of misappropriating the lion’s share of Akai’s assets just before it was wound up, and then transferring them into his Hong Kong listed vehicle, Grande.
Yesterday, the liquidators accused Ho of serving up suspicious evidence.
The main trial against Ho and Grande will not start until at least the end of this year. But since late 2007, Ho has been the subject of several pre-trial hearings concerning his personal assets.
Yesterday Leslie Kosmin QC, for the liquidators, accused Ho of authoring a questionable affidavit to suggest he has less money than he does.
Kosmin produced a loan agreement he said Ho had provided on Wednesday night, purportedly showing the Grande boss had mortgaged his 67 per cent stake in Grande in 2004 to secure a HK$500 million gambling loan.
The lender named was STDM, casino mogul Stanley Ho’s holding company. Stanley Ho, who is in hospital following a brain operation, founded Grande and remains its ‘honorary chairman’.
But Kosmin said the loan agreement did not look real.
He said the document was “not on company headed paper, had no signature on it apart from [Christopher] Ho’s and has never been disclosed to the court before.”
Kosmin added: “We are not prepared to accept this as authentic.”
Christopher Smith SC, for Christopher Ho, did not respond to that accusation, while the Grande boss was not present. A spokesman for STDM could not be identified while a spokeswoman for Shun Tak, Stanley Ho’s other holding company, said she could not respond to questions about STDM.
In February, the court froze Christopher Ho’s personal assets so he could not dispose of any properties or businesses that may have belonged to Akai.
After Christopher Ho flouted some terms of that order, the court gave control of his assets including luxury properties, Rolls Royces, Porsches, art and crystal collections and shareholdings in some 50 companies and trusts, to a receiver, Robin Darton, of law firm Tanner Dewitt.
The receiver now has the deeds to the Grande chief’s homes on the Peak and in Singapore’s upscale Four Seasons complex. Darton will also be checking regularly with insurers and auction houses to make sure the tycoon is not selling anything, a source familiar with the process said.
In previous hearings, the liquidators have claimed Christopher Ho’s net worth is around US$500 million.
He controls 50 separate companies including a hotel chain in the US and Canada.
On September 1, Mr. Justice Stone wrote in a judgment that Christopher Ho was “deftly pulling the strings of his corporate empire with the aim of safeguarding assets which otherwise would be available to satisfy any judgment against him”.
The Grande boss left Ernst & Young Hong Kong in 1991. For some years before, lawyers for the liquidators have stated in pre-trial hearings, he was one of Akai’s senior auditors at EY.
The liquidators have said in court that when they began their work on Akai in 2001, there was only US$167,000 worth of cash in the business. All of Akai’s main assets, it is alleged, were transferred to Grande in a so-called management agreement.
Ernst & Young advised Grande on the management agreement. But the accounting giant is not a defendant or a party in this case against Christopher Ho and Grande.
Stanley Ho is also not implicated in any Akai litigation in any way.
Stanley Ho chairs another Hong Kong listed company, DVN, where Christopher Ho’s sister, Christine Lai Shan Asprey Ho, is an independent non executive director.
2 comments:
Former Ernst & Young partner faces charge of doctoring evidence
Naomi Rovnick
25 September 2009
Another key defendant in the legal battle over the insolvency of collapsed electronics giant Akai has been accused of lodging questionable evidence with the court.
On Wednesday, accounting firm Ernst & Young paid hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a case where it had been accused of negligently auditing Akai. The case collapsed after the failed company’s liquidators claimed Ernst & Young staff had falsified and doctored evidence it used in court pleadings and witness statements.
In a separate High Court case, Christopher Ho Wing-On, a former Ernst & Young partner, is being accused by the liquidators of misappropriating the lion’s share of Akai’s assets just before it was wound up, and then transferring them into his Hong Kong listed vehicle, Grande.
Yesterday, the liquidators accused Ho of serving up suspicious evidence.
The main trial against Ho and Grande will not start until at least the end of this year. But since late 2007, Ho has been the subject of several pre-trial hearings concerning his personal assets.
Yesterday Leslie Kosmin QC, for the liquidators, accused Ho of authoring a questionable affidavit to suggest he has less money than he does.
Kosmin produced a loan agreement he said Ho had provided on Wednesday night, purportedly showing the Grande boss had mortgaged his 67 per cent stake in Grande in 2004 to secure a HK$500 million gambling loan.
The lender named was STDM, casino mogul Stanley Ho’s holding company. Stanley Ho, who is in hospital following a brain operation, founded Grande and remains its ‘honorary chairman’.
But Kosmin said the loan agreement did not look real.
He said the document was “not on company headed paper, had no signature on it apart from [Christopher] Ho’s and has never been disclosed to the court before.”
Kosmin added: “We are not prepared to accept this as authentic.”
Christopher Smith SC, for Christopher Ho, did not respond to that accusation, while the Grande boss was not present. A spokesman for STDM could not be identified while a spokeswoman for Shun Tak, Stanley Ho’s other holding company, said she could not respond to questions about STDM.
In February, the court froze Christopher Ho’s personal assets so he could not dispose of any properties or businesses that may have belonged to Akai.
After Christopher Ho flouted some terms of that order, the court gave control of his assets including luxury properties, Rolls Royces, Porsches, art and crystal collections and shareholdings in some 50 companies and trusts, to a receiver, Robin Darton, of law firm Tanner Dewitt.
The receiver now has the deeds to the Grande chief’s homes on the Peak and in Singapore’s upscale Four Seasons complex. Darton will also be checking regularly with insurers and auction houses to make sure the tycoon is not selling anything, a source familiar with the process said.
In previous hearings, the liquidators have claimed Christopher Ho’s net worth is around US$500 million.
He controls 50 separate companies including a hotel chain in the US and Canada.
On September 1, Mr. Justice Stone wrote in a judgment that Christopher Ho was “deftly pulling the strings of his corporate empire with the aim of safeguarding assets which otherwise would be available to satisfy any judgment against him”.
The Grande boss left Ernst & Young Hong Kong in 1991. For some years before, lawyers for the liquidators have stated in pre-trial hearings, he was one of Akai’s senior auditors at EY.
The liquidators have said in court that when they began their work on Akai in 2001, there was only US$167,000 worth of cash in the business. All of Akai’s main assets, it is alleged, were transferred to Grande in a so-called management agreement.
Ernst & Young advised Grande on the management agreement. But the accounting giant is not a defendant or a party in this case against Christopher Ho and Grande.
Stanley Ho is also not implicated in any Akai litigation in any way.
Stanley Ho chairs another Hong Kong listed company, DVN, where Christopher Ho’s sister, Christine Lai Shan Asprey Ho, is an independent non executive director.
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