A senior Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) executive may have been arrested in connection to the disgraced Macao-based billionaire David Ng Lap Seng, in news first reported by Caixin Global and cited by the Macau Daily Times.
The Chinese financial outlet says Jiang Yisheng has become “unreachable” by phone.
It is believed police have taken Jiang, who was chairman of ICBC’s Macao branch from 2018 to 2023, into custody. Sources told Caixin Global that Jiang’s disappearance may have been linked to a real estate loan issued during his tenure at ICBC Macau and used to fund the Windsor Arch luxury residential development.
Ng is the former chairman of the Sun Kian Ip Group, one of the Windsor Arch’s developers. He was sentenced to four years in a US prison in 2018 for bribing two diplomats – including a former president of the United Nations General Assembly – to help him build a conference centre in Macao intended for UN use. He was released to Macao on health grounds in 2021, after serving 34 months.
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In 2023, Macao’s the Court of First Instance sentenced Ng to a 15-year prison term for organised crime and money laundering. At the same time, his son, the businessman Ng Kei Nin was sentenced to 8 years and six months for organised crime, money laundering and bribery. The senior Ng’s sentence was reduced to just two and a half years after extended legal negotiations.
ICBC Macau reportedly took disciplinary action against Jiang due to what it said were flaws around the Sun Kian Ip Group’s loan – which is the subject of an ongoing legal imbroglio.
In June, the Court of First Instance announced that ICBC Macau had applied to seize assets belonging to Ng, his son and their affiliates to recover outstanding debts. The court order covered some 80 parking spaces and over 40 office premises, as well as bank deposits.
Ng, once known as one of the region’s richest individuals, had served as a member of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
