GIVE US BACK OUR MONEY, FORTIS TELLS EX HONG KONG DIRECTOR

Fortis Insurance Co (Asia) has asked for the return of HKD34.92m ($4.5m) that former regional director Lam Hau-wah borrowed from the company to make payments on a luxury apartment, under threat of the apartment being repossessed. Mr Lam lost his job with Fortis last December after allegedly being involved in a plot to fix a shareholder vote on the privatization of PCCW ( IIN 24, May 12 2009). He was said to have handed blocks of shares to subordinates with instructions to vote in favour of the PCCW delisting plan, a move opposed by many long-term shareholders on the grounds that founder Richard Li was trying to force the buyback of its shares on the cheap. Fortis Asia filed a write last week claiming that Mr Lam took out four loans between 1999 and 2008. Mr Lam’s apartment, in the prestigious Residence Bell-Air project, was developed by Pacific Century Premium Developments, the property arm of PCCW. Mr Li previously owned Pacific Century Insurance, before selling it to then Dutch-Belgian financial services group Fortis, which renamed it Fortis Insurance Co (Asia).