An Auckland housing development that ran aground a decade ago is facing investigation by Hong Kong police.
A late epilogue to proceedings at the High Court at Auckland saw Justice Edwin Wylie reopen a long-dormant case involving disgraced finance boss Paul Bublitz, his business colleague Christopher Cook, and a trustrun by Las Vegas-based businessman Rod Nielsen over a request for mutual legal assistance from Hong Kong authorities.
Wylie noted the request was said to be "in relation to an investigation being undertaken by the Hong Kong Police into suspected conspiracy to defraud involving the parties to the High Court proceedings in this country," with some burned investors based in the China-controlled city.
The ruling notes lawyers for Bublitz and Cook opposed the request and said the pair had not been contacted by Hong Kong police and they denied any suggestion of any wrongdoing. No submissions were received by the courts from Nielsen.
This development, delayed a full year after New Zealand courts repeatedly failed to refer the request from Hong Kong via Crown Law to a judge, breathes new life into a decade-old business failure that cost international investors more than $20m.
Albany Heights was envisaged as a series of developments on Auckland's North Shore, ultimately aiming to build hundreds of homes and marketed internationally from 2010. Bublitz, Cook and Nielsen were key figures in the scheme.
More than 200 investors, largely from Asia, tipped in more than $21.5m.
After hitting speed bumps, Albany Heights spectacularly collapsed after controversial Chinese businessman William Yan, aka Bill Liu, became involved and liquidators were appointed at the end of 2012.
Liquidator Damien Grant of Waterstone launched years of his own litigation, charging just over $1 million in liquidators and legal fees, before last year securing a $1.2m judicial settlement and closing his long-running file.
In 2013 the Serious Fraud Office announced it was investigating the Albany Heights development, but the file was later dropped with no charges laid.
Albany Heights sales signage on Gills Road in early 2013, shortly after the development fell into liquidation. /PHOTO Herald on Sunday by Neville Marriner
In 2019 Bublitz was convicted of misleading investors owed $17m by Viaduct Capital and Mutual Finance - casualties of the great finance company cull that followed the global financial crisis a decade earlier - and sentenced to 11 months' home detention.
Justice Wylie agreed to provide documents on file - including transcripts of the hearing, and affidavits and briefs of evidence of Bublitz, Cook and Nielsen.
