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文章來源: 都來自香港 於 2005-02-23 15:36:26
Accused of fleecing an old friend ... Michael Chin.
Price of friendship: $5.5m and four years of lies
They were two rich kids from Hong Kong studying English at the University of Sydney. It was 1991 and Joshua Wai Kim Chu and Michael Chin, both 21, lived at Mosman and partied together several nights a week.
Mr Chin was from a wealthy family; he drove a BMW and would spend hundreds of dollars on dinner. But obviously it was not enough.
After almost a decade of friendship, Mr Chin took Mr Chu for a $5.5 million ride that lasted four years. How he pulled it off - and the lengths to which he went to conceal his deceit - defy belief. That Mr Chu was never suspicious is equally dumbfounding.
Yesterday, Mr Chin, an Australian citizen who still lives in Mosman, was ordered by the NSW Supreme Court to repay Mr Chu $7,054,824.59 (including interest) and legal costs after he repeatedly failed to present his defence case.
Mr Chu reported the matter to police in early 2004 but was fed up that after 10 months nothing had eventuated.
The tall tales Mr Chin spun began in 1999 when he falsely claimed to be the director of Edin Investments Pty Ltd, according to Mr Chu's statement of claim tendered to court.
Mr Chin persuaded Mr Chu, who returned to Hong Kong in 1994, to become a shareholder, promising a lucrative future for the two.
Before long, he had Mr Chu pouring millions of dollars straight into his personal ANZ savings account at Chatswood to pay for bogus investments including property in Japan and shares in companies not even publicly listed.
He invented Edin's "majority shareholders", including the "very rich" Mr Kwok, the father of his school friend, Tom, who he said gambled up to $200,000 a pop and was a "popular man with lots of girls", Mr Chu said in his claim.
The pair met in Japan to look at property on several occasions and Mr Chin urged his friend to fly to Sydney several times to cash in term deposits at his local bank account after his Hong Kong accounts ran dry.
Mr Chin so convinced him of his investment prowess that Mr Chu eventually dipped into his own family's businesses for cash.
Meanwhile, Mr Chin drove a Ferrari, had two Mercedes and enjoyed a "flamboyant" life, the court heard yesterday.
He never presented his friend with a single document from their "investments" on the share market and in property amounting to 11 complicated business proposals.
Mr Chu even paid $4376 for several "hotel bookings" for Mr Chin when he was supposedly overseas drumming up business for Edin.
He would call Mr Chu, saying that he was terribly busy, and could he book him a room at the Bangkok Marriott Hotel.
"Make sure it's a suite on the higher floors," he said, according to Mr Chu's claim. "Then book me two nights at Banyan Tree in Phuket ... make sure I've got a double bed there. I need you to then book accommodation for me in Seoul at the Grand Hyatt for three nights ... The company will pay you back."
Australian Securities and Investments Commission records show that Mr Chin has never been director, nor a shareholder, of Edin. The company directors' personal address, however, is listed as Prince Albert Street, Mosman - where Mr Chu lived as a student in what the Herald understands is a family home.
When Mr Chu eventually ran out of cash, his mate relied on guilt trips. He said Mr Kwok "despised" Mr Chu because he blamed him for his son's drug overdose in a Japanese nightclub, and was thus causing trouble by attempting a hostile takeover.
To this day, Mr Chu does not know if any of these people exist.
He has never met any of them and a private investigator was unable to track them down.
Mr Chin did not return the Herald's calls yesterday. |
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