Bankrupt Sydney property developer Sam Fayad has been revealed to be the “Australian businessman” embroiled in a Hong Kong bribery case.
Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) issued a press release in November 2024 saying that two Chinese real estate executives had been criminally charged over “corrupt dealings” with an unnamed Australian businessman.
It was recently revealed in the NSW Supreme Court that “the Australian businessman referred to in the press release is Mr Sam Fayad”.
With personal debts of more than $2.8 billion, Fayad, 66, holds the unfortunate record of what is believed to be the largest personal bankruptcy in Australian history.
Fayad, who was bankrupted in 2023, had given personal guarantees for massive business loans needed to prop up his failing development empire, Dyldam.
Once one of the largest developers of residential apartment blocks, the Dyldam group collapsed on New Year’s Eve in 2020 with huge debts, including to the Australian Tax Office.
The downfall of the Dyldam group, which had 300 associated companies, has been an ongoing nightmare for the many liquidators appointed to the various companies. The liquidators have complained about the lack of books and records, the complexity of the movement of money throughout the various companies and the failure of Fayad and his two sons, both now bankrupted, to co-operate with the liquidators.
A decade ago, a Herald investigation revealed a pattern of poor corporate behaviour on behalf of Dyldam, which was run by Fayad, his sons Remon and Fayad-Lee, along with their uncle, Joe Khattar, also since bankrupted.
Upon completion of a development, having paid Dyldam handsomely for construction services, several apartments were transferred to their family and friends and, shortly thereafter, the company set up for that particular development project would collapse, leaving substantial debts to tradies, suppliers, financiers and the ATO, which would be owed millions of dollars.
Only months before the companies were put into receivership, the Dyldam folk would quit as directors, appointing a shadow director to take the fall. In one case, they appointed an allegedly fictitious woman as the director of several companies. When the Herald went to the address listed on the corporate records, no such person had ever resided there.
The Fayads and Khattar would then set up new companies to do fresh developments and the pattern would continue.
To date, the only corporate punishment for Sam Fayad has been a $6000 fine in 2023 following his prosecution by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for failing to assist a liquidator and not providing books and records.
Fayad’s involvement in the overseas criminal case was revealed in a recent Supreme Court decision to put on hold two civil cases in Australia until the criminal proceedings in Hong Kong are completed.
Facing charges are Wang “David” Ng, 46, and his mother, Shang-Min Han, 75. Ng was the second-in-charge of Beijing Capital Land (BCL), a major Chinese development company, previously listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. It is currently controlled by the Beijing municipal government.
Ng was also running BCL’s Australian operation. BCL lent more than $600 million to the Dyldam group.
The Supreme Court heard that the Hong Kong prosecutors are alleging that “Mr Ng and Madam Han conspired together with Sam Fayad”.
The corruption body’s 2024 press release, tendered in the Supreme Court, alleged that “Ng invested AUS$6 million in the investment opportunity offered to him [by Fayad] and received a repayment of about AUS$8.9 million, making a profit of about AUS$2.9 million out of the investment”.
According to the press release, his mother “allegedly participated in the corrupt dealings”. Mother and son are facing charges which carry maximum penalties of a fine of $HK500,000 ($91,000) and seven years’ jail.
The two civil actions brought against Ng and his mother were launched last year by BCL’s local subsidiary, Australian Capital Land. The second action against Ng was brought by David Mansfield, the liquidator of Fayad’s company Gateway Parramatta One, which borrowed funds from BCL.
In his decision to put the civil cases on hold until the overseas criminal matters were finished, Justice Francois Kunc said the local matters involve overlapping claims that will be ventilated against Ng and Han in Hong Kong.
“Both proceedings arise from the alleged misappropriations in Australia by the defendants of funds advanced from China,” the judge said.
The Supreme Court heard that it is alleged that, over a six-year period from 2014, Ng diverted $40 million in funds that were meant to go to the Dyldam Group.
His mother is accused of receiving $7.5 million in December 2017.
“When weighing the interests of justice, the Court is satisfied that there would be real prejudice to David and Madam Han … if these proceedings are not stayed,” said the judge.
The Hong Kong criminal matter will return to court on February 23, with a trial expected early next year.
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