Ng Lap Seng | Billionaire’s Hengqin project apparently unaffected
Ng Lap Seng (center) leaves a Federal court in Manhattan on July 27
The conviction of a Macau real estate billionaire last week does not seem to have negatively impacted a commercial project he initiated on the neighboring island of Hengqin.
Macau magnate Ng Lap Seng, who was convicted of bribery, conspiracy and money laundering on Friday, spearheaded the integrated commercial project, which is being managed by a partnership between his New Fenghong Real Estate Development company and China Resources Land Ltd.
New Fenghong is owned by Ng’s Sun Kian Yip (SKY) Group – the same company which was to manage the Macau-based United Nations conference center that landed Ng in the bribery and corruption scandal.
Covering a total ground floor area of over two million square meters, construction of the joint venture, Hengqin Wanxiang World, began around a year ago. When completed, the project is expected to create approximately 50,000 jobs in Zhuhai and generate nearly RMB1 billion in tax revenue on an annual basis.
According to developers, though it will be primarily involved in commercial and trade activities – including “online-to-offline commerce.” The site also has the additional aims of accelerating the development of Hengqin and promoting economic growth in Macau, Hong Kong and Guangdong Province.
China Resources is a state-owned conglomerate based in Hong Kong, which consists of a group of companies involved in a wide range of industries. SKY Group is owned by Ng, with the billionaire’s son, Ng Kei Nin, having occupied the position of board chairman for several years.
In September last year, Ng Kei Nin refused to answer questions on whether his father’s detention would affect the project. The younger Ng was speaking at a press conference for the project and he assured attendees that the Hengqin development was progressing according to schedule.
This reaffirmed the earlier comments of William Kuan – a business partner of Ng and a board member of SKY Group – who said in October 2015 that the company was unaffected by the case, especially since the elder Ng “has not directly participated in the company’s operations for the past few years.”
Indeed, the project appears to be going ahead as planned, without any indication that it has been impacted by the trial or conviction of its figurehead.
Nevertheless, the press conference last year for the integrated commercial project was not attended, as might be expected, by the mayor of Zhuhai nor the director-general of the Hengqin New Area Administrative Committee, Niu Jing.
Separately, Ng Kei Nin was named in the 2015 Panama Papers leak, with a company registered in the British Virgin Islands since 2001, named Star Gear Technologies Ltd. Search engine queries return few results on the company. DB
