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Audacious: Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Photo: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
When CY Leung parachuted out of his insolvent property business to make his run for Hong Kong's top job he tried to extract an additional £3 million from Australian firm UGL, emails obtained by Fairfax show.
In return for cooperating on the £77 million sale of DTZ, the real estate advisory empire he'd helped to build, Mr Leung wanted the Australians to not only underwrite £1.5 million in bonuses, and pay £4 million in business wealth that had been wiped out, but also compensate for £3 million of investments that he'd sunk in the firm's loss-making franchise in Japan over the previous five years.
"It was like 'here's all my losing lottery tickets, could you buy them'," says one party to those negotiations in November 2011.
UGL agreed to underwrite the bonus and pay the £4 million side-deal but rejected the additional £3 million demand, calculating that the price was too high for keeping Mr Leung on side.
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But it was not the audacity of Mr Leung's claim so much as the manner in which he made it that illuminates his political predicament today, as he battles mass pro-democracy protests across the city and widespread calls for him to resign as the city's Chief Executive.
Back in 2011 he'd bunkered down somewhere in Hong Kong or Shanghai and refused to answer emails, or get on a plane, or even pick up the phone.
"He'd often go walkabout," says one of the players in those negotiations. "Most times he wouldn't respond. So we'd send [outgoing DTZ chairman Tim Melville Ross] to find him, or RBS [Royal Bank of Scotland]. "
Then, like now, Mr Leung refused to talk directly with with his counterparties. His demands were made known via intermediaries.
"Please see the attached breakdown for 3,058,565 GBP'," says an email from one of Mr Leung's confidants at DTZ, Alan Wong, detailing his Japan demand in an email dated November 24, 2011.
The email was sent to the firm's main creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and forwarded via other advisers and intermediaries.
"Please find attached CY's analysis of his contributions he's made to the Japanese business and which he is looking to be reimbursed as part of his co-operation for the UGL deal," said the subsequent email, from RBS.
Those emails make clear that RBS, the outgoing chairman and other advisers were party to negotiations with Mr Leung, despite media statements to the contrary.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/cy-leung-sought-an-extra-1633-million-from-ugl-20141015-116joj.html -- gReader
