A third person linked to a Hong Kong company's attempt to purchase the Crafar farms is facing charges overseas.
Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has charged Yee Wenjye (also known as Eric Yee), a 40-year-old Singaporean national and New Zealand resident, with conspiracy to defraud Hong Kong-listed company Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings.
Natural Dairy's bid to acquire 16 Crafar farms was rejected in 2010.
Yee is accused of conspiring to defraud Natural Dairy, its directors and shareholders by falsely representing that 22 farms owned by the CraFarms Group had made a profit of $18.5 million in the year ending May 2009, when the company had actually made a significant loss of about $30 million.
In October, the ICAC charged Auckland bankrupt May Hao, also known as May Wang, and Auckland-based businessman Jack Chen, also known as Chen Keen, with conspiring to bribe officials and dealing with property that represents proceeds of an indictable offence.
The anti-corruption unit alleges Hao and Chen conspired between May 2009 and December 2010 to offer two Auckland properties and more than $HK73 million ($NZ11.7 million) to Chen as payment for arranging for Natural Dairy to acquire UBNZ Asset Holdings, which was owned by Hao.
It is also alleged that between December 2009 and December 2010 they dealt with the sales proceeds to UBNZ Asset Holdings, including two convertible notes worth $NZ150 million, which represented proceeds of an indictable offence.
Yee is alleged to have conspired with Hao and Chen in misrepresenting the financial strength of the Crafar farms.
Hao and Chen reappeared in court on Thursday. All three will reappear again in April.
The charges follow a joint investigation into the company by the ICAC and New Zealand's Serious Fraud Office, which began in September 2010 when New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office was assessing Natural Dairy's bid for the Crafar farms.
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