East Tāmaki house fire: Rich Chinese man’s second property burns down in the same week

Another house in East Tāmaki went up in smoke, on the same street, and is owned by the same person as a large fire earlier in the week.

Emergency services were called to the fire on Point View Drive shortly after midnight and the fire is being treated as a suspect.

The two-story property was well lit when Fire and Emergency New Zealand arrived, a spokesperson told the Herald.

They were initially notified about the fire at 12:01 am and managed to extinguish it around 1.50 am. Firefighters have remained on the scene to cushion critical points.

A fire scene investigator will visit the property at 8 am to make inquiries about the fire.

It is owned by Xiao Hua Gong, a wealthy Chinese businessman accused of running a massive pyramid scheme from Canada, according to property records.

On Wednesday, another house owned by Gong on Point View Drive was razed to the ground in a fire that sent smoke and yellow flames into the night sky.

A brick wall and a fireplace are all that remains of the four-bedroom house, with firefighters fighting for six hours to put out the fire.

Investigations will continue today after the fire in another of Gong’s houses overnight.

A scene guard has been in place throughout the morning, a police spokeswoman told the Herald.

Police were called to the fire at 12.15am, mainly to help with traffic control. The spokeswoman understood that the property was empty.

Gong, also known as Edward Gong, was arrested in Canada in 2017 and charged with fraud and money laundering in connection with the alleged pyramid scheme involving the “fraudulent sale of hundreds of millions of dollars” in Chinese stocks.

Nine months before Gong’s arrest in Canada, a High Court judge granted freezing orders on Gong’s assets in New Zealand, which include $ 69.5 million in bank accounts and an Auckland home worth $ 2 million.

New Zealand detectives alleged that Gong transferred nearly $ 12 million to the country from Canada.

The money laundering was committed here to distance Gong from the alleged pyramid scheme in China, police said.