With Robert Mugabe under house arrest, what happens with his dispute over HK$40 million Hong Kong villa?
Legal experts say new government in Harare could still pursue case over Tai Po house
While the crisis in Zimbabwe continues with President Robert Mugabe under house arrest, the ousted leader’s claim over a luxury villa in Hong Kong remains unresolved, three years after he launched a legal battle to take ownership.
The lawsuit to take back the property in Tai Po back from a Taiwanese-born South African businessman could still be pursued by a new Zimbabwean government without affecting the case, legal experts said on Thursday, although Mugabe himself would not benefit.
Local property agents were doubtful whether any potential new claimant would profit from the city’s property boom, estimating that the current market value of the two-storey house in question would be little changed from the HK$40 million (US$5.1 million) the Zimbabwean government claimed Hsieh Ping-sung paid to buy it on Mugabe’s behalf in June 2008.
Any claimant would be “fortunate” to make a profit in the current market for such high-priced second-hand homes, they said.
The Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe, under Mugabe’s reign, lodged the lawsuit against Hsieh and his company, Cross Global, at the Hong Kong High Court in 2014 over the villa at the JC Castle estate.