The Serious Fraud Office says it is still investigating land transactions involving Chinese-backed company Natural Dairy, which is seeking to buy more than $200 million worth of dairy farms from the receivers of the Crafar family group of companies.On Oct
The Serious Fraud Office says it is still investigating land transactions involving Chinese-backed company Natural Dairy, which is seeking to buy more than $200 million worth of dairy farms from the receivers of the Crafar family group of companies.
On October 21, the SFO said that based on information from the Overseas Investment Office, it had started looking into transactions between Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings Ltd and UBNZ Trustee Ltd; UBNZ Assets Holdings Ltd; and UBNZ Funds Management Ltd.
On Friday, Natural Dairy chairman Wu Nengkun said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its legal adviser in New Zealand had been told by the SFO the investigation did not relate to Natural Dairy.
SFO chief executive Adam Feeley said today the statement was not correct.
While investigations were not directed at Natural Dairy itself, they may include people in the company or transactions involving the company, he said.
"The SFO will typically focus on the conduct of individuals and not the corporate entities they may be representing, when considering whether to investigate or prosecute a matter."
The transactions in question are the proposed sale and purchase of a number of dairy farms known as the Crafar farms, currently in receivership.
UBNZ is 80 percent owned by the New Zealand-based UBNZ Trustee Ltd and 20 percent by Hong Kong-based Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings.
Businesswoman May Wang, who has been fronting the deal, has previously said that because she is a New Zealand citizen and Natural Dairy's 20 percent stake is less than the 25 percent trigger point for an OIO application, the purchase conformed with the Overseas Investment Act.
