Hong Kong judge orders secretive 'Queensway group' to open books to ex-director
Judge orders secretive Queensway group to allow Wu Yang to inspect records in his claim for share of US$186 million payout from project
A judge has ordered a secretive group of Hong Kong companies to open its books to a former director.
The companies, nicknamed the Queensway group for their address in the city, have undertaken oil projects in Africa involving British Petroleum and the state-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec).
In a ruling in the Court of First Instance on Tuesday, Justice Jonathan Harris ordered Dayuan International Development and two directors, Lo Fong-hung and Veronica Fung Yuen-kwan, to make available to Wu Yang within 21 days all documents from 2008 to 2010 of Dayuan and 12 of its related companies. The firms share the same office at Two Pacific Place, 88 Queensway Road.
The records include information on an airport and a power station in North Korea, a HK$12.16 million payment to a "Tanzania air project", and HK$7.68 million of payments to Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
The root of the dispute is Wu's claim to a share of a US$186 million dividend from an oil project in Angola, which was a joint venture between BP and Sonangol Sinopec International (SSI). SSI's shareholders include Sinopec and Wu, through his 30 per cent shareholding in Dayuan.
Wu, having received no dividend, asked in October 2010 to inspect the books of Dayuan, SSI and other companies of the Queensway group, the judgment said.
Wu was removed as director of six Queensway companies, including SSI, later that same month and was dismissed as director of two other Queensway companies in March 2011, according to the judgment.