Developer investigated for controversial home sales
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Hong Kong police were executing search warrants numerous locations involved in the 24 suspicious flat transactions at 39 Conduit Road, a luxury residential property developed by Henderson Land, the city's police chief said Wednesday.
Commissioner of HK Police, Tang King-shing, said officers were looking for documents which would help the police investigation.
He also said several people had been questioned but no arrests had been made, adding the inquiry was complicated due to the number of people involved.
In a statement released later in the day, Henderson Land confirmed and welcomed police investigation. The developer said it would provide material in an all-round way and hoped that the incident would be cleared up.
The 24 controversial transactions all came from the 39 Conduit Road, situated in Conduit Road in western mid-Levels of the Hong Kong Island.
The project and the 24 transactions had been the focus of local media attention since June after Henderson said most of the sales deals had fallen through.
Henderson said last month it had completed only four out of the 24 transactions in the 39 Conduit Road. The completed transactions didn't include the high-profile five-bedroom duplex, which the developed claimed it had sold last year at a world-record 88,000 HK dollars (11,317 U.S. dollars) per square foot of saleable area.
The transactions involving the remaining 20 units had been canceled by "mutual agreement" between the company and the respective purchasers after the developer received written requests from the purchasers, Henderson then said.
As a result of the cancellations, the purchasers forfeited their deposits totaling 133.4 million HK dollars.
The city's government said on July 17 it was looking into and following up on the 24 transactions amid criticisms of deceptive marketing. (one U.S. dollar equals to 7.776 HK dollars)
