TV star hits back over fraud claims by investor
By Wang Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-08 09:37
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A Taiwan TV star who was accused of fraud by an overseas Chinese woman says he plans to sue her and the newspaper that first reported her claims for 100 million yuan.
Huang Ayuan, who became known on the mainland because of his participation in China Central Television's Spring Festival gala shows in 1984 and 1985, has been chairman of the board of China Satellite TV Company since 2005.
Su Chuiying, an Australian Chinese woman, claimed in an article in the Mirror Evening News on Dec 27 that he had cheated her out of 15 million yuan.
Huang strongly denied the accusations before the media on Wednesday, saying he planned to recover his losses according to the law. Huang said China Satellite TV Company had lost 40 million yuan in advertising revenue as of Jan 6 because of the accusations.
Neither Su nor the Mirror Evening News could be reached for comment yesterday. Huang explained that there had been contract dispute between him and Su, but he said it was not fraud. He told reporters Su wanted to spend 30 million yuan on a 15 percent stake in the company and they signed a contract on June 27, 2009. He said she paid a 15 million yuan advance on July 1, 2009. However, Huang claimed Su did not meet any of the terms of the contract and failed to show up after paying half of the amount owed.
Huang claimed Su asked for the return of her advance payment and 5 million yuan in compensation after the contract expired.
He told reporters he agreed to return the advance payment but they were unable to agree on compensation.
Su claimed in the article in the Mirror Evening News that he had cheated her out of her money.
She claimed that after paying her advance, she found out that the financial condition of the company had been overstated.
The Mirror Evening News reported that Su asked Huang to return the advance but he refused.
She claimed in the article that she had gone to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and could not find a license for the company to operate a TV station.
"It was an illegal company and Huang's action was contract fraud," Su told the Mirror Evening News.
She said she had submitted information to Beijing police and the Mirror Evening News reported that the police had started to investigate.
Huang said the company was registered in Hong Kong in March and was granted a license from the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority to start a TV station on Oct 19, 2009.