CCAC head says Coloane land buyers may be ‘victims’

André Cheong (left)

The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) will not disclose whether the construction project at Alto de Coloane is related to any crime, the Commissioner of the CCAC, André Cheong, announced in a press conference yesterday.

On Tuesday, the CCAC released their investigation report on the construction project at Alto de Coloane, listing many irregularities and claiming that the Macau government should recover the land plots of more than 50,000 square meters, which is involved in the project.

In 1992, the court ruled that two residents would inherit the title of the plots. In 1994, both residents sold their land plotss to Chong Fai Limited.

In 2004, Win Loyal Limited and Chong Fai Limited entered a sale and purchase deed in Macau. The plots was purchased for a price of HKD88,000,000 and, in March of 2009, Win Loyal Limited applied for a new street alignment plan.

According to a preliminary development proposal for the land plots submitted by Win Loyal Limited, the company planned to construct nine 22-metre high independent villas and nine 115-metre high residential buildings of 37 stories.

Recently, Win Loyal Limited published a notice on Macao Daily News “emphasizing that it acquired the relevant land through lawful methods.”

“All circumstances were legal and reasonable, however […] the CCAC report [claims] that the obtained private land should be recovered [by the Macau government]. This, obviously, cannot protect the legitimate rights of the company and results in a great loss for the investors. At the same time, a report from a related investigation may also affect the public’s misunderstanding of the company,” the statement reads.

According to Win Loyal Limited, the company’s major shareholder is Poly Property Group, which is the sole overseas-listed real estate company of China Poly Group, the large-scale state-owned enterprise under the supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (“SASAC”) of the State Council of the PRC.

Yesterday, Cheong commented that the CCAC “did not care about the company’s background” during its investigation procedures.

He also said that according to the current investigation, Win Loyal Limited is not involved in the fraud case which surrounds the acquisition of the land plots by the two Macau residents.

“Win Loyal Limited might be a victim of this issue, [because] it bought the wrong [land],” said Cheong, adding that Win Loyal Limited “knows nothing” about the land’s history.

According to Cheong, Win Loyal Limited’s leadership consists only of Macau residents.

As to whether this case involves crimes, no information whatsoever has been revealed to the media at the current stage. If the case involves crimes which are within the CCAC’s jurisdiction, the CCAC will follow up  with an investigation.

Cheong “believes that there exists” misconduct in the administration of related government departments, but he repeatedly noted that the related supervision bodies should pursue the case.