via Robert Mugabe launches legal bid for $HK40 million Hong Kong home | South China Morning Post 29 January, 2014 by Austin Chiu
The government of the Republic of Zimbabwe has launched a lawsuit to claim ownership of a Tai Po luxury home that was reportedly bought by a middleman before the daughter of the country’s president started university studies in Hong Kong.
In a High Court writ, the government, led by President Robert Mugabe, is suing businessman Hsieh Ping-sung and a company, Cross Global.
In 2009, the media reported that Mugabe splashed out HK$40 million in June 2008 for the three-storey home at JC Castle, an upmarket development along Shan Tong Road developed by Albert Yeung Sau-shing’s Emperor Group and named after action star Jackie Chan.
Reports at the time suggested the house was bought through Hsieh, who was acting on behalf of the Mugabes, months before their daughter began studies at the University of Hong Kong.
It was reported that Hsieh used a company to buy the property, but sources in Zimbabwe said the Mugabes held a controlling interest in the house.
Hsieh was the sole shareholder of Cross Global in 2010, Companies Registry filings show. On January 29, 2010, Cross Global sold the house to Hsieh for HK$40 million – the same price at which it bought the house in 2008 – Land Registry records show.
In the writ, the Zimbabwean government says Cross Global is holding the property for it in trust. It is asking the court to declare it has a “100 per cent beneficial interest” in the property and to order Cross Global and Hsieh to transfer the property to it.
It also wants the court to void the 2010 transfer of the property between Cross Global and Hsieh.
Filings show Hsieh on June 29, 2010, transferred all his shares in Cross Global to Johan Carel Nel, a South African national.
COMMENTS
So this is where he stashed his millions, wouldn’t it be poetic justice if he gets screwed in the deal and loses the house AND the money???
What a lovely thought….
Exactly, the fish rots from the head and the same is in Zim. The number 1 corrupt person is the one who is supposed to fight corruption!!! What a joke.. No wonder we are in this mess..
Now they can fill the pinch. What goes around comes around. What about all those farmers who lost their properties ?
Another indication of Mugabe’s skill as a manager. He is like an ignorant peasant once out of his zone of intimidation.
The way I read this is that the Zimbabwe Government is filing the lawsuit which means our tax money.So we get robbed again, why should we pay for Mugabe’s private deals.
I wonder how Grace afforded this house with her sewing business. When oh when will we lifestyle audits of the rich and powerful. Tax free no sweat. I wish!!
Hsieh and Cross Global knew that this was corrupt money stollen from the people of Zimbabwe. Thats why they just took the property and they will never return a single cent. Its just the same as the Cuthbert Dube, ZBC and Air Zimbabwe sagas we are reading today.
@Antonio & Nona. The house was bought with our (Zimbabwean people) money and Mugabe in his stupidity used a crooked middlement who has swingled him (and eventually us as Zimbabweans) of $HK40million! This thief of a man masquarading as a president! $HK40million could be a significant injection into out economy. Instead it was siphoned out by this thief called Mugabe and now our economy has crumbled with a lot of workers going unpaid, the population starving and hospitals without drugs etc. I can’t wait for the day he will eventually go to that eternally lake of fire (Hell).
Today’s idiomatic writers cannot even convert the figure to USD, after reading this then l had to go to currency converters but anywhere looting is looting, the day will come for justice
Our dear “president” has the audacity to splash over US$5m (HK$40m) buying a house for his daughter in Hong Kong, yet people are dying in derelict hospitals with no water supply. Is this the mark of a “president” who cares for “his” people? To hell with him! That is why I always say he will rot in hell.
This is a drop in the ocean in regard the billions that this ” King of Thieves ” has stolen from Zimbabwe. Why else does, his dog, Malema, love him so much. He wants to do the same thing in South Africa. They will rot in hell.
Shame!Shame! Shame! So much for Grace’s response to Dali Tambo that they have no properties outside the country! Hopefully this results in them having one less property
@Saddened, I was just thinking of Grace’s interview, saying how hard they had worked for every penny. How Mugabe had a small paltry salary. The truth always comes out. Sad, sad, sad, does not even care about his own black people.