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).