HONG KONG (Reuters) - Trading in shares of Hong Kong-based developer Chinese Estates <0127.HK> was suspended on Wednesday, after the Macau government issued a statement warning it could seize back five plots of land where the company is building a multi-tower project.
A former senior official in Macau, Asia's gambling capital, was convicted of six fresh charges of corruption and three more counts of money laundering on May 31, and had his sentence extended by six months to 29 years by the Macau Court of Final Appeal, the court said in its ruling.
The court ruled the transfer of the plots of land next to Macau International Airport involved illegal activity.
"We will not exclude the possibility of declaring the land approval and transfer of the five plots of land invalid," the office of the Secretary for Transport and Public Works stated late on Tuesday.
The prosecutor alleged in court that the official, Ao Man-long, received a HK$20 million ($2.6 million) bribe to speed the approval of the sites.
A court in Macau has ruled that Joseph Lau, the tycoon chairman of Chinese Estates, and Steven Lo, chairman of BMA Investment, must stand trial over charges of bribery and money laundering. Lau has denied any wrongdoing, while Lo testified he did not pay a bribe to Ao [ID:nL4E8GO0E7].
"Regarding the sale and transfer of five pieces of land in which illegal conduct was involved, the government will wait for final confirmation of the previous court ruling early next week, and then initiate relevant procedures as soon as possible in accordance with the law and past experience in handling the land related to Ao Man-long," the government statement read.
Chinese Estates, with a market value of $2.2 billion, builds residential and commercial property in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. The company did not respond to calls from Reuters for comment on Wednesday.
Lau owns 75 percent of the shares of Chinese Estates, which last closed at HK$9. The company said it requested the trading halt from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange pending the release of price-sensitive information.
Ao, the former secretary for transport and public works in Macau, is the most senior government figure ever arrested by the city's anti-graft agency. He has until Monday to appeal against his new convictions.
He was previously convicted of accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks to speed property project approvals.
(Reporting by Anne Marie Roantree, Alex Frew McMillan, Twinnie Siu and Alison Leung; Editing by Richard Pullin)
