Chinese government linked Queenstown development in liquidation

A Chinese government linked property company with unpaid claims from Queenstown contractors has gone into liquidation, leaving the future of over 100 Fernhill residential units in doubt.

Triple Connection Ltd was put into liquidation on February 13 after landscaping company Top Garden failed to get a response to a statutory demand linked to an unpaid $80,000 invoice and even higher legal costs. Queenstown company Concept Builders was also owed money by Triple Connection.

The company is involved in the troubled Jade Lake project that was launched with great fanfare back in 2018.

Min 'Homy' Yang, left, with Chinese Embassy officials at the 2018 Jade Lake launch.

37 Robins Road, Queenstown is listed as the main address for Triple Connection Ltd, its sole director, Mr Min Yang, and its sole shareholder, Min, or 'Homy', Yang, featured at the launch of the Jade Lake project standing shoulder to shoulder with officials from the Chinese Embassy.

37 Robins Road – the Queenstown address for many companies linked to Mr Min Yang

Only a few Jade Lake townhouses have been completed and sold with the vast majority of units yet to be started.

Crux reported in 2021 that Min Yang appeared in the Queenstown District Court for breaching Covid lockdown travel restrictions. He told police that his occupation was a bus driver. He was convicted for the breach on December 6, 2021, and fined $1,000.

Queenstown contractor Louis Wu says his company Top Garden Ltd is owed more than $80,000 by Triple Connection Ltd for retaining wall work at the Jade Lake site. But he’s had to spend more than that in a legal battle where the lawyers are arguing over who is liable to repay the debt.

Queenstown contractor Louis Wu says his company Top Garden Ltd is owed more than $80,000 by Triple Connection Ltd

Lawyers acting for both sides spoke to Crux last year and the picture was confused. Neither side seems able to agree on anything.

Crux even received an anonymous email prior to the publication of this article attempting to discredit both Top Garden Ltd and Concept Builders using phrases such as “bad rats” and “evildoer always complain first”.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case it is certain that the Jade Lake project is nowhere near what the Chinese Embassy promoted and launched back in 2018 – a solution to the local housing crisis.

It seems more likely that local contractors are paying a high personal price for market failures and uncertainty much higher up the feeding chain.