SUNSHINE EMPIRE SAGA
NO SUCH DEALS?
THE affairs of some companies linked to Sunshine Empire have come
under the spotlight again, this time in Taiwan.
New Paper, The (Singapore)
By Hedy Khoo
19 November 2007
THE affairs of some companies linked to Sunshine Empire have come
under the spotlight again, this time in Taiwan.
An 'affiliated company' of SunshineEmpire, Empire Communications
Technology (Emcom), has claimed on its website that it plans to
invest more than $20million in a broadband project there.
The company, whose registered office is at the Toa Payoh Hub, has
'invested heavily into Taiwan' to build 'a seamless wireless
broadband that will cover more than 95 per cent of the city of
Taichung'.
It claimed that the project will be completed by the end of this
year.
However, a check with the Information Management Section of the
Department of Planning of the Taichung City Government showed
noevidence of this.
Ms Huang Hui-Ming, chief of the section, told The New Paper on
Sunday that Emcom does not have any partnership with the Taichung
City government.
She said the company had never contacted its department regarding
the broadband project.
Ms Huang noted that while it is true that the city's government
plans to build a wireless Internet network, it is part of a project
proposed by the Industrial Development Bureau of Taiwan's Ministry
of Economic Affairs.
And this government-initiated project is being handled by Asia
Pacific Telecom Group (APTG).
Ms Huang said: 'After contacting APTG about Emcom, we understand
that EmCom is not involved in the government-funded M-Taichung
project.
'As for other plans, such as Emcom's wireless network construction
in Taichung, we at the city government cannot confirm
itsauthenticity.'
On Sunshine Empire's website, EmCom is listed as an affiliate
company.
The Taiwanese official's comment comes in
the wake of a Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) probe into the
affairs of Sunshine Empire.
Earlier, Sunshine Empire made news when the Monetary Authority of
Singapore placed the company on its investor alert list in
September.
Malaysia's Securities Commission also put Sunshine Empire on its
investor alert list a few months ago.
While it maintains that it is not an investment company, some of
its potential members have said that they were told that they could
get returns of up to $96,000 in eight years if they put $12,000
into the company.
They claimed they were also shown various business 'projects' that
a company, Empire Property Venture, is supposedly involved in,
including a Malacca Empire Marine Theme Park and A Magic Kingdom
theme park inSabah.
Empire Property Venture is listed as an affiliate of Sunshine
Empire on the latter's website. But in an e-mail response to The
New Paper on Sunday, Sunshine Empire's Asia Pacific president
Jackie Hoo Choon Cheat said the two companies are 'legally
unrelated'.
The CAD is now asking Sunshine Empire members to wait for further
updates from the authorities and hope they can come forward to help
in the investigation.
The authorities in Malacca and Sabah had earlier told The New Paper
on Sunday that they have no information on the existence of
theseprojects.
'NO PROPOSALS'
When contacted, the Mayor of the Malacca City Council, Datuk Zaini
Md Nor, said that to date, they had not received any proposals for
such a theme park there.
He added that he had received an application in August for the
approval of a plan by Empire Property Venture to build a commercial
and residential building of 510 units on 0.87 ha of land (slightly
larger than a football field). But this project has not been
approved.
The mayor added: 'If any developer begins building without approval
from the City Council, we will put a stop toit. It is illegal to
build without approval.'
This, however, has not stopped Empire Property Venture from
supposedly marketing this development, as well as Empire Theme Park
Service Suites and Empire Marina Villas, which are part of the
Malacca Empire Marine Theme Park.
According to Empire Property Venture's website, the construction of
the theme park and the Sunshine Villa project in Malacca was
expected to begin about two months after the ground-breaking event
on 9 Sep.
Each project has its own link to its price list and booking
status.
That's not all - the company has also put up the Sunshine Villa
project's blueprint on its website, indicating that 317 of the
project's 510 units have even been sold.
The price of these units ranges from RM100,000 ($43,000) to
RM300,000.
When contacted, a receptionist at the Sunshine Empire office in Toa
Payoh Hub said the properties were available to the public.
However a receptionist who answered a call made to the Malaysian
office of the Empire Property Venture International said the units
of all the properties were only available to Sunshine merchants or
members.
She said interested buyers had to go to the Sunshine Empire office
in Singapore to sign up as a member before getting access to their
merchant website to make the purchase of the properties
online.
She also said that more than 300units of Sunshine Villa have been
sold, with the seaview units fully booked.
When asked if there were any showflats available for viewing, the
woman said there were none, but brochures were available
online.
She also said there were units available for a higher-end project
in Kuala Lumpur called the Empire State Tower.
The brochure on the company's website describes this development to
be 'the most prestigious residential address right in the heart of
the Golden Triangle Business District of Kuala Lumpur'.
This project which is supposed to be built on Jalan Tun Razak,
purportedly has 290 units available for sale, with 147 units shown
as 'sold' on the online price list.
However, a check with the City Hall of Kuala Lumpur revealed that
no such project is in the works at present.
A spokesman said: 'City Hall Kuala Lumpur has not received any
application for a property to be developed at Jalan Tun Razak
called the Empire State Tower.'
Copyright, 2007, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
