Money: Lawsuits for hotel brothers

WELLINGTON - Two brothers involved in a failed Chinese hotel development in Lower Hutt have been hit by legal action in Australia.

High Win (NZ) Ltd, the company behind a $1.8 million conversion of Lower Hutt's former police station into a hotel-restaurant complex, was put into liquidation on April 10.

New South Wales Supreme Court has issued an injunction freezing the $A2.7 million ($3.23 million) assets of Li Fah Hok, his brother Peter Li, Sophie Zeng and Golden Field International Import and Export Pty, a firm involved in building houses in Sydney.

The injunction was obtained by Beijing Municipal, Urban and Rural Construction Corporation, which claims its money was used to fund the development.

Beijing Municipal and an associated company, High Win Industrial, also claim they are the real owners of the Lower Hutt hotel development, as their money funded the project.

Evidence has been given to the High Court in Wellington that Li Fah Hok, whose whereabouts are unknown, put company money into his personal bank account and used it in a bid to gain New Zealand residency.

A meeting of High Win (NZ) Ltd creditors will be held in Wellington on Monday.

Local contractors who worked on the Lower Hutt construction site have claims totalling about $400,000, and the two Chinese companies claim they are owed more than $1 million. - NZPA