William Yan is also known as Bill Liu, and previously as Yang Liu and Yongming Yan.
William Yan is also known as Bill Liu, and previously as Yang Liu and Yongming Yan.
Housing project developer insists businessman is not his backer.
Police are examining the involvement of a businessman who is under investigation for alleged money laundering in a $50 million Albany housing project identified as the site of shoddy building practices that are said to flout the law.
William Yan is in an extended legal battle with the Commissioner of Police following a raid by detectives of his luxury Metropolis penthouse in August last year. Restraining orders have been placed on about $40 million of assets. The action was taken under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery law, which effectively forces someone to prove how an asset was paid for.
No criminal charges have been laid against Mr Yan. His lawyer, Paul Wicks, QC, said his client denies any wrongdoing.
Mr Yan, also known as Bill Liu, and previously as Yang Liu and Yongming Yan, has been involved in the Albany development, Albany Heights, now called Silvermoon Park, about which construction concerns were raised this month.
Developer George Hunter has confirmed the 115-unit development is the site of videos posted by Auckland Council on its news website showing shoddy building work. He has vowed to fix the problems, which he maintained were not structural.
Based on what it observed in one of the videos, the Master Builders Association said it appeared to flout the law, and the properties might be vulnerable in an earthquake. The Brick and Blocklayers Federation believed the properties were "potentially very dangerous", based on the insufficient grout and strong cracking shown in the video.
Mr Hunter said the work was done by a subcontractor who had been fired after he discovered substandard work.
Police have told the courts that they believe Mr Hunter is one of a few businessmen with whom Mr Yan has a close working relationship, and that Mr Yan plays a central role, including providing the vast majority of funding.
But Mr Hunter, of Marmande Property Investments, told the Herald that Mr Yan had not provided any investment funds since Marmande took over the development.
Mr Hunter said he had agreed to pay Mr Yan 20 per cent of profits from the development on a handshake agreement because Mr Yan had helped with sales of some units. Mr Yan is understood to also deny having any current interest in the project beyond that agreement.
But police have told the High Court that investigations suggest Mr Yan provided the funds for the purchase of the property in Gills Rd, Albany, when Marmande bought it.
Justice Edwin Wylie noted, in a proceeding separate from that arising from the restraining orders on Mr Yan's assets, that Mr Yan "purchased a $3 million mortgage over the development to protect the $3 million he had contributed to it [prior to Marmande purchasing it].
The Albany building site.
Mr Yan then exercised his mortgagee rights in November 2013 and sold the development to Marmande, a company associated with himself".
A second judgment notes about the sale to Marmande, that police investigations suggest Mr Yan provided the funds "on the mortgagee sale to Marmande, so that Mr Yan effectively purchased it from himself".
Funds are alleged to have come from Ease Treasure Ltd, a company incorporated in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. Ease Treasure Ltd has no visible links to Mr Yan but is mentioned in paperwork seized by police, including a receipt which a judge has noted that "on its face shows that [Mr Yan's partner, Vienna You] paid for the costs of the incorporation".
But Mr Hunter told the Herald he owns 100 per cent of Marmande. Mr Yan was going to arrange funding for the development, he said, but that had "turned to custard, and so all my funding is New Zealand-based".
On Mr Yan's role, he said: "He was going to help with the funding, but he did assist by getting me a few sales. Other than that he has had nothing whatsoever to do with it."
Mr Hunter confirmed he had shared office space with Mr Yan in the Metropolis building "for a few months ... because it was cheap".
The money-laundering investigation is linked to an alleged $129 million fraud in China, which is one of the reasons that Internal Affairs officials recommended that Mr Yan had not passed the good-character test and should not receive citizenship. The advice was overruled by Labour Cabinet minister Shane Jones because of his concerns Mr Yan might be killed if forced to return to his homeland.
New Zealand police claim Mr Yan is an "economic fugitive" from China and, with Ms You, had brought a significant amount of money into New Zealand since arriving here in 2001 through alleged "large-scale money laundering transactions".
Silvermoon Park
• Controversial citizen William Yan alleged to be involved.
• Developer confirms site is subject of shoddy-building video.
