Wednesday 7th March 2012

Dear Reader,

The latest crowd-sourced odds on CE: in the last 2 days, the chance of Henry Tang being CE from 36.8% to 35.5%, C Y Leung advances from 41.3% to 43.1% and Someone Else (implying another election round) slips from 19.5% to 18.9%. We now have 948 participants. That's more than the 2007 Election Committee. So, will today's Tammy Wynette routine by Lisa help Henry's odds, or is he beyond redemption? Please update your estimates and remember, we want to know what you think their chances are, not whom you want to win. Your PIN is above.

NEW ARTICLE
Raking muck, Part 4
We take a deeper dive into the transactions of Inno-Tech (8202), and call on the SFC to investigate. We also call on the regulators either to scrap the requirement for "independent" financial advisers in listed company deals, or make it work by randomly assigning them through a jury pool system. The current system of opinion-shopping to IFAs of Last Resort is a waste of investors' money and provides false comfort. (7-Mar-2012)

RECENTLY
Raking muck, Part 3
We now connect Joseph Lau to Executive Talent, and focus on a series of dubious transactions by Hycomm and the bubble in its stock while it did the coal mine hokey cokey, from which bubble Joseph Lau has profited hugely. We also look at the creation of Inno-Tech and the youngest infant mortality on GEM, Codebank. (5-Mar-2012)

Raking muck, Part 2
Continuing our series, we look at a set of over-priced acquisitions and questionable transactions by China Post e-Commerce and others, building a matrix which demonstrates the close connections between the persons involved. We call on the SFC to investigate. (27-Feb-2012)

Raking muck, Part 1
In the first of a multi-part series, we delve into a transaction by the HK offshoot of Xinhua, the PRC's official news agency, and the people behind it. (21-Feb-2012)

IN OTHER NEWS
Former chairman and executive director ordered to pay HK$85 million compensation to Styland
SFC, 7-Mar-2012
This is a major win for the SFC, and comes almost 10 years after Webb-site first blew the whistle on what we called the "Styland Network" in a series of articles rather like the current "Raking Muck" series. Let's hope the SFC follows up on some of our later pieces, and that the defendants actually pay up.

Freeman (0279) subsidiary Harvest Financial Services intends to commence financial planning services shortly
Company announcement, 7-Mar-2012
That's if they can get any customers. Thanks for the warning!

Two buyers of "The Oasis", 8-12 Peak Road, v Holyrood, a subsidiary of Paladin (0495)
HK Court of First Instance, 1-Mar-2012
Judge Carlson: "the building of these properties has been an absolute disaster...these purchasers were plunged into a nightmare out of which they did not emerge for at least three years...[Lilian Oung] turned what must have been one of Hong Kong's prime building locations into a complete disaster. A real "cowboy" operation."

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