HK legislator named Landing Intl independent director

Aug 17, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Hong Kong legislator Abraham Shek Lai Him, usually identified in media reports there as a Beijing loyalist, has been appointed as an independent non-executive director of Asian casino investor Landing International Development Ltd. The role was with effect from Friday, according to a filing by the firm to the Hong Kong bourse, after trading hours on the same day.

Mr Shek has also been appointed as a member of respectively the audit committee, the nomination committee and the remuneration committee of Landing International, the filing noted.

He will be entitled to HKD300,000 per year (US$38,707) in fees for the directorship.

Mr Shek is an independent non-executive director at 17 other Hong Kong-listed public companies, including Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd, according to Landing International’s Friday filing. Another such directorship according to the filing, is with Hong Kong-listed Far East Consortium International Ltd, which is involved in a casino resort scheme in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland in Australia.

Yet another of Mr Shek’s independent non-executive directorships is with Hong Kong-listed ITC Properties Group Ltd. In November, a subsidiary of the latter was involved in purchasing some of the equity interest in Macau’s The 13 Hotel, a venue that previously aspired to have a casino. The hotel is currently shuttered.

Mr Shek is a veteran legislator in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, for the functional constituency representing the real estate and construction sectors. He recently declared an intention to seek re-election for the new term of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, according to media reports there.

Landing International promotes and operates a resort with foreigner-only casino, called Jeju Shinhwa World, on Jeju island, a popular South Korean holiday destination for Chinese and domestic tourists.

In late August 2018, Landing International Development revealed in a filing it had at the time lost contact with its chairman Yang Zhihui. An image circulating online the same day, showed a person resembling Mr Yang airside on an airport’s tarmac, being escorted in handcuffs by two men.

It was not until late November that year that the group reported Mr Yang was back at work. The latter filing said Mr Yang had explained to the board that he had been “assisting a relevant department of the People’s Republic of China with an investigation during the period of his absence”.

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