NOVEMBER 28, 2017
Two directors from a China-based company that recently listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have been linked to a US$45 million tax fraud and money laundering inquiry in the UK. The pair, James Liang Jian-heng and Andy Chan Kit-lung, are both executive directors and significant shareholders of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging Company Limited (Wan Cheng), a company that states its primary business as the manufacture of tin cans for Guangdong province-based paint and coating manufacturers.
Liang and Chan, who are both 36 years old, are also the founders of the UK-based Chinese fast food takeaway chain Hotcha. After launching in 2012 and showing strong initial growth, Hotcha entered into insolvency on October 18th, 2017. This came after numerous reports in the UK press linking Hotcha to a series of dawn raids on October 6th, 2017 by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK government department primarily responsible for the collection of taxes but also possessing a wide-ranging investigation and arrest remit in relation to fiscal crimes, including money laundering.
