Ex-chairman of Hong Kong-listed Neo-China surrenders after 13 years on the run
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Li Songxiao, the former chairman of Neo-China Group (Holdings), now known as Shanghai Industrial Urban Development Group (SIUD), handed himself over to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) over his involvement in fraudulent property deals worth more than HK$330 million (US$42 million).
Li had allegedly conspired with two then senior executives, Che Hanshu and Zhang Yaohui, to
defraud shareholders and the Hong Kong stock exchange, by inflating the profit and assets of the developers through fraudulent transactions, according to a statement from ICAC.
Warrants for the trio were issued in February 2011 by a magistrate, but by that time they had already left Hong Kong, ICAC said. Li, Che and Zhang had conspired with the company's secretary and financial controller to defraud shareholders between November 2003 and July 2007, it added.
Li, 59, faces two common law charges of conspiracy to defraud. He is scheduled to appear at Eastern Magistrates' Courts for a mention hearing on Wednesday.
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The charges centre on two property deals in which Neo-China allegedly misled investors – one involving the HK$210 million purchase of Top Fair, and another concerning the HK$123 million sale of its subsidiary, Noble Time Development, to Northwest Link.
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