By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-23 08:03

GUANGZHOU: A Hong Kong businessman is seeking up to 110 million yuan ($14.1 million) in compensation from a local-level intermediate court in Guangdong Province for its alleged "infringement of (his) rights to develop land".

Chan Ho-wai, president of a Zhongshan-based joint venture between Chan's Macao-based company and a Jiangmen-based company, said yesterday that the Zhongshan Intermediate People's Court had "misused its judicial right" during a property development case.

The trial, believed to be the biggest court case ever filed against a government department in Guangdong Province, opened yesterday at the Guangdong Higher People's Court. The defendant was not present.

The venture was originally set up by the Macao-based company and the Shanghai-based Kangda Property Co Ltd in 1993, a year before Chan bought about 30 hectares of land in Zhongshan's Shanxiang Township.

But a dispute broke out between the Macao and Shanghai-based companies, so the parties involved turned to the court.

In 1998, the Guangdong High People's Court awarded development rights for the land Chan bought to the Shanghai-based company, but ordered it to excise its rights within six months.

Chan then signed an out-of-court agreement with the Shanghai-based company in which the company forfeited its rights.

However, in September 2001, the Zhongshan court terminated the Guangdong court's order because the Shanghai-based company had not exercised its rights.

The court then seized the land.

"The land still belongs to me, but the Zhongshan court misused its power and trampled on my rights to develop the 30 hectares of land. Over the past years, I have been embroiled in a tug-of-war with the Zhongshan court," Chan told China Daily yesterday.

Chan has asked the Guangdong high court to step in.

"The judges at the Zhongshan court clearly acted unlawfully in this case. My business has been severely disrupted," Chan said.

"We could not debate the case directly with the Zhongshan court today because of its absence. We hope it will be settled in a fair and open manner," Chan said.

China Daily sought opinions from the Zhongshan court yesterday, but a staff member there said "it is not the right time to comment".

(China Daily 08/23/2007 page4)