Wednesday 12th November 2014

Dear Reader,

Time for a bit of muck-raking.

NEW ARTICLE
Blowing the whistle on Sinoref (1020)
The latest deal deserves attention from the SFC's corporate misconduct team. We also find improbably high profit margins which have now collapsed, a big receivables problem, and two changes of board, the latest after a character from our 2012 "Raking Muck" series reappears. (12-Nov-2014)

RECENTLY ON WEBB-SITE
C Y Leung on cartels and politics
YouTube, 3-Nov-2014

Delivery of petition for HK democracy.
Webb-site has today delivered to the CE's Office the petition with the first 2,114 signatures. The realistic and pragmatic petition remains open for signature, so it is not too late to add your voice. The CE has an opportunity to resolve the impasse over constitutional development, move HK forward, and land on the right side of history. (31-Oct-2014)

Broadly representative of wealth
C Y Leung tells 3 media from democratic countries that the Nominating Committee should be "broadly representative" of wealthy people, not the general public, who would otherwise wreck the economy, and explains how he has to pander to vested interests in the committee to get elected. Yet the lack of a popular electoral mandate has resulted in populist handouts anyway, as well as wasteful infrastructure spending to favour vested interests. Could a democratically nominated and elected CE really be any worse? We also look ahead to what the students should realistically be asking for tonight. (21-Oct-2014)

IN OTHER NEWS
Concentration warning in Sinogreen (1159)
SFC, 11-Nov-2014
Webb-site analysis: Sinogreen had net assets at 30-Jun-2014 of $24.1m and raised $164.4m from the issue of shares and convertible bonds to a Macau junket operator on 19-Sep-2014, with an issue and conversion price of $0.35. Upon full conversion, there will be 652,564,800 shares in issue, with a pro forma net asset value of $0.29 per share. The shares trade at $13.00, or about 45 times NAV.

CITIC Tower and minibus & taxi associations v protesters in certain areas
HK Court of First Instance, 10-Nov-2014

Sidney Chau Foo Cheong v ICAC
HK Court of First Instance, 10-Nov-2014
Mr Chau, former head of security at HK Airport, succeeds in getting some documents back, claiming legal professional privilege.

HKSAR v Koo Sze Yiu & Ma Wan Ki
HK Court of Final Appeal, 10-Nov-2014
The court says that the law against desecrating the HKSAR flag (and by implication, the national flag) is still constitutional, 15 years after the last test, as it is "necessary" to maintain public order. On the other hand, the flag of the Communist Party is probably fair game.

HKSAR v Pang Hung Fai
HK Court of Final Appeal, 10-Nov-2014
Mr Pang succeeds and his conviction for money-laundering is quashed. The CFA holds that the list of grounds considered by the District Court judge in determining that the defendant had "reasonable grounds to believe" that the money was proceeds of an indictable offence was too narrow. It failed to take account of the existing relationship of trust between Mr Pang and Mr Kwok.

Court dismisses judicial review against Takeovers Panel. Disciplinary proceedings
SFC, 7-Nov-2014
Note: according to the SFC web site, there are 2 current disciplinary proceedings, but only 1 of them involves 5 defendants, in relation to Pearl Oriental Oil Ltd. Three of the defendants, Chairman Wong Yuk Kwan, Kitty Yip Sui Kuen and Yik Siu Hung are facing criminal charges in an ICAC case.

A, B & C v SFC
HK Court of First Instance, 7-Nov-2014
The judicial review of the Chairperson's decision in refusing a stay of the disciplinary proceedings under the Takeovers Code in the Pearl Oriental Oil case involving Wong Yuk Kwan (A), Yik Siu Hung (B) and Kitty Yip Sui Kuen (C). The judge finds that the Chairperson did not err in law and her decision was not unreasonable.

Heritage (0412) sells loss-making TCM clinic
Company announcement, 5-Nov-2014
The purchaser is High Rhine Ltd, the owner of which is not disclosed. On 12-Dec-2013, High Rhine Ltd was sold by Tack Fiori (0928) to Equal Sky Ltd (BVI), which at least until 21-Apr-2010 was owned by Willie (0273). So this may have been a sale to Willie.

Chris Patten testimony to Parliament, nearly 30 years after the joint declaration (TV)
UK Parliament, 4-Nov-2014

MMT sets date for Water Oasis’s former CEO hearing
SFC, 4-Nov-2014

SFC fines Yue Siying, of UBS, HK$400k for negligence
SFC, 4-Nov-2014

SFC bans Mr Leung Wai Hung, ex-Fulbright, for 18 months
SFC, 3-Nov-2014

PECS Register monthly update Part 1. Part 2
HK Government, 31-Oct-2014

And much more besides...
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