James Lee
The owner of embattled Hoixe Cake Shop and his wife have been arrested for allegedly defrauding a financial services company of HK$10 million in a mortgage loan scam.
That came months after the chain owned by Siu Wai-kin was embroiled in controversy when it failed to pay its employees and rental fees on time.
It is understood that a mortgage loan application of HK$10 million for four properties on Castle Peak Road in Sham Shui Po, Wai Yip Street in Kwun Tong and Beverly Villas in Kowloon Tong was approved by a financial services firm after Siu failed to disclose that he held a subordinate mortgage for the properties.
The couple had been experiencing financial issues arising from rental real estate losses from the four properties, a source said.
The Yau Tsim police district crime investigation team arrested Siu, 67, and his wife Yuen Suet-chuen, 66 – an investor in the cake shop – in Kowloon City and Tsim Sha Tsui respectively on January 9 and 10 on suspicion of fraud.
A police spokesman said an employee at a financial services company reported last month that the couple had applied for subordinate mortgages for four properties, claiming the four properties had only been mortgaged once.
The company granted a subordinate mortgage loan of about HK$10 million to the couple, but it later discovered that…
