Third person charged in connection with Crafar farms bid

A third person associated with an attempt to purchase the Crafar farm assets has been charged in Hong Kong.

Yee Wenjye (40, also known as Eric Yee), a Singaporean national and New Zealand resident, was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong.

Mr Yee is accused of conspiring to defraud Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings Limited, its directors and shareholders, by falsely representing that the 22 farms owned by the CraFarms Group had made a profit of $18.5 million for the year ending May 2009.

It is alleged that the company had in fact made a significant accounting loss for the year of around $30 million.

SFO chief executive Adam Feeley said the further charge by Hong Kong authorities was consistent with the evidence SFO investigations had uncovered.

Last October May Wang, now called May Hao - the former operator of UBNZ Assets Holdings Limited (UBAH) - was charged by ICAC with one count of conspiracy to offer advantages to an agent and two counts of dealing with property known or reasonably believed to represent proceeds of a crime.

Chen Keen (also known as Jack Chen) was also charged in Hong Kong in October with one count of conspiracy to offer advantages to an agent and one count of dealing with property known or reasonably believed to represent proceeds of a crime.

All three appeared in court yesterday.

Mr Yee is alleged to have conspired with May Hao and Chen Keen in misrepresenting the financial strength of the Crafar farms.

The case against Mr Yee has been adjourned to 18 April 2012. The case against May Hao and Chen Keen has also been adjourned to 18 April 2012.

New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office declined Natural Dairy’s bid to purchase the Crafar farms out of receivership in late 2010.

Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin is waiting for an OIO decision on its bid for 16 Crafar farms.

Crafar receiver KordaMentha is understood to have given Pengxin until the end of this month to make an offer.