Chinese Estates Holdings chairman Joseph Lau Luen-hung Tuesday denied bribing ex- Macau official Ao Man-long, according to the Hong Kong media today.
In a filing to the Hong Kong bourse, Lau said he had not given Macau’s former secretary for transport and public works “an unlawful advancement or bribe.”
Macau’s Court of Final Appeal alleged on Monday that Lau gave Ao some 20 million patacas (HK$19.4 million) to secure five parcels of land on Taipa.
A company owned by Lau and South China Football Club chairman Steven Lo kit-sing won the tender for the sites, located opposite Macau’s airport.
Lau said he was not a co-defendant but was asked by the court to be a witness.
He said he was not charged in either Hong Kong or Macau.
The sites in question – along Avenida Wai Long, Taipa – were developed by Chinese Estates into a residential project.
Ao was convicted on dozens of corruption charges in 2009 and is serving a jail term of 28 years. He faces six other corruption and three money laundering charges.(macaunews)
