May Wang hearing in chambers

May Wang Photo / Greg Bowker

Lawyers for a woman fronting a Chinese bid to buy the 16 former Crafar farms were today continuing to debate whether she should reveal who was funding her attempt to pay off debts from an earlier company she ran.

May Wang is appearing in the High Court at Auckland trying to stop a bid from the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) to bankrupt her following the collapse of her hotel and property business Dynasty Group.

Wang first proposed to pay creditors $500,000 of the $22 million owed to creditors from future earnings. That was later increased to $1.3 million after she secured $800,000 from "friends and associates".

The proposal was accepted at a creditors meeting but subsequently the IRD objected to the deal and requested a bankruptcy hearing.

Lawyers went into chambers yesterday to argue whether Wang should be obliged to reveal who was providing the $800,000, and the hearing was still behind closed doors this morning.

Wang is the front person for a group of Chinese investors bidding to buy $1.5 billion of New Zealand dairy farms, including those from the failed Crafar farming operation.

- NZPA