Police win court clash over Yan's seized assets

William Yan wanted police to pay losses incurred from seizures. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The police have won the first of many legal battles with businessman William Yan after a High Court judge ruled they are not liable for losses incurred from the seizure of his fortune.

Millions of dollars worth of assets the police allege belong to Mr Yan have been restrained.

They include a $2 million apartment, a Bentley car, jewellery, shares and bank accounts.

Mr Yan - also known as Bill Liu, Yang Liu and Yong Ming Yan - made headlines over his links to the previous Labour Government and the decision to give him a New Zealand passport, despite his having multiple identities and an Interpol alert against his name.

Senior detectives have been working closely with Chinese authorities who claim the 43-year-old "orchestrated several complex deceptions" in a $129 million fraud when he was the chairman of a pharmaceutical company in 2000.

He has denied "any wrongdoing in any jurisdiction" and, with his wife Wei You, sought a court order to allow them to sue the police for damages or losses over the millions of dollars of assets seized in a money laundering investigation.

New details of the frozen assets are found in a judgment where the couple said they stood to lose millions of dollars because of the restraining orders held over:

•An 18.8 per cent stake in Mega, the online encryption service founded by Kim Dotcom.

•A $4 million investment in a property development in Albany.

•A share of profits in a proposed dairy factory.

•$4 million in bank accounts.

•Shares in a Chinese seafood company to be listed on the New Zealand stock exchange.

If any of the business deals failed because of the restraining orders, Ms You said, the couple stood to lose $44 million from the property development, "hundreds of millions" in profits from the proposed dairy factory and up to $18 million worth of shares in the seafood company.

They sought an order for the Commissioner of Police to undertake that the police would meet any damages or losses suffered as a result of the restrained properties.

Justice Graham Lang refused the application and said some of the claims of vast profits "must be regarded as highly speculative".

The ruling is the first in what is likely to be a protracted case as the legal team, led by Paul Wicks, QC, fight the restraint of assets made under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act.

Police documents filed in court claim Mr Yan is an "economic fugitive" from China and had brought a significant amount of money into New Zealand since arriving in 2001 through alleged "large-scale money laundering transactions".

"Police believe that Mr Yan and Ms You have accumulated a substantial asset base in New Zealand and are concealing the true ownership of those assets by registering or purchasing the assets in the names of associates ..." Detective Inspector Bruce Good alleged in an affidavit.

The money laundering inquiry has probed Mr Yan's gambling at SkyCity, the purchase of expensive homes and luxury cars and bank transactions, as well as shareholdings.