Will Hong Kong’s ‘enigma network’ unravel with next week’s Convoy court hearings?
The fascinating story of the rise and fall of Roy Cho Kwai-chee is set for next week, as hearings begin in the HK$715 million suit brought by his former company
The High Court will begin hearings Tuesday in a civil case involving the exceptional story of Roy Cho Kwai-chee, an ethnic Chinese who immigrated as a youngster to Hong Kong from India, gaining professional career success as a doctor, before being linked to one of the biggest corporate investigations in the city’s history.
Convoy Global Holdings has filed three lawsuits against Cho, its former director, and scores of other defendants, in a claim amounting to HK$715 million (US$91.41 million).
In the writs, Convoy alleges that Cho, 53, was the mastermind behind the wrongful transfer of funds belonging to the Tsai family of Taiwan that were diverted via “circular financing agreement” to companies and individuals linked the Enigma Network, a term coined by shareholder activist David Webb that refers to 50 companies to avoid.
Cho is alleged to have siphoned off as much as HK$4.04 billion of Convoy funds to companies associated with him, according to the Convoy suit.
The high-profile case is expected to draw wide media coverage, even though Cho is unlikely to show up at the hearings, as he is believed to have fled Hong Kong.
In December regulators from the Securities and Futures Commission and the Independent Commission Against Corruption raided the office of Convoy, which is the largest financial advisory firm in Hong Kong with 100,000 customers including insurance and Mandatory Provident Funds.
