Elizabeth Zhong murder: legal tumult with creditors over ‘major misappropriations’

Elizabeth (Ying) Zhong, an Auckland businesswoman, and her beleaguered companies were locked in a legal tumult with creditors before she was killed and shoved into their boot.

The High Court battle saw misappropriation allegations of more than $ 4 million involving one of Zhong’s heavily indebted companies.

The 55-year-old was last seen alive at her home in Auckland’s eastern suburbs at around 4.30pm on Friday, November 27.

At some point in the next 20 hours, she was brutally stabbed to death at her home and hidden in the trunk of her black Land Rover.

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They then drove the vehicle around the corner and abandoned it on Roadley Avenue, a cul-de-sac two minutes from their home on Suzetta Pl, Sunnyhills.

Police found the SUV shortly after 11 a.m., but did not thoroughly search the vehicle until the afternoon, when they found it in the trunk, underneath various items from her home.

On Saturday, a week after the killing, police had yet to arrest or press charges.

Detective Inspector Shaun Vickers has revealed little about the progress of the investigation or any possible suspects the police may have. He declined to comment on the delay between police finding the car and his body.

Vickers also did not want to know if any locks have been placed on someone’s passport to prevent them from fleeing the country after the killing, but said police will contact authorities in China.

Zhong, who came to New Zealand from China in 1997, had expanding business interests ranging from film-making to viticulture ventures.

It had millions in the red for creditors ranging from the Bank of New Zealand to a Chinese film and television company of which little is known.

Business Bureau records show that, as of November 2020, it was the sole director and shareholder of the bankrupt Kennedy Point Group Ltd and Carrick Wines Ltd wine companies, as well as another of its businesses, Sunbow Ltd.

A one-year High Court judgment, issued after a December 4, 2019 hearing before Judge Christian Whata, showed that certain Zhong creditors had obtained orders preventing Zhong from participating in any significant transaction affecting Sunbow.

The hearing addressed what would be an unsuccessful offer by Zhong to disqualify the attorneys acting on behalf of the plaintiffs due to their claim that they had previously acted effectively on their behalf and would need to testify.

However, the background information provided in the judgment sheds new light on the disintegration of commercial relations and the increasingly serious debts that characterized the period before his death.

The plaintiffs in the case were Fang Sun, Jingqui Tang, Sunbow Group Ltd and Sunbow Investment Ltd, against defendants Sunbow Ltd, Zhong and four of their winemaking and film effects companies, including Carrick Wines in Central Otago and Digipost.

Tang has declined to comment. Things has been unable to reach Sun for comment.

The plaintiffs began proceedings in August 2019 to gain ownership and control of Sunbow following complex disputes over restructuring agreements years earlier, involving the transfer of shares in exchange for Sun giving up a debt that Zhong owed him.

They also claim that Zhong, under a separate settlement, owed $ 10 million to Sunbow Group Ltd.

After obtaining an order allowing access to Sunbow’s accounting records, the plaintiffs identified what they viewed as “major misappropriations” on the order of $ 4.5 million of Sunbow money, according to the ruling.

Zhong denied any wrongdoing.

The ruling notes that she was adamant that Duthie Whyte’s attorneys could not act on behalf of the plaintiffs, having acted on behalf of her and Sunbow in transactions that formed the background to the initial lawsuit.

Judge Whata declined to prevent Duthie Whyte from acting at the time of the hearing, but acknowledged that the issue was unclear.

Duthie Whyte did not respond to a request for comment.

Judgment Details Regarding Supporting Information for Zhong’s Debts Things has obtained after her death from people close to her and former business partners.

A man who owns property in Kumeu alongside Zhong’s property, and who said he was a good friend of hers, described receiving a phone call from a “Mr. Sun” who he knew as Zhong’s business partner, towards the end of 2019..

He said the emotional sounding man told him that Zhong owed him $ 10 million.

In the following year, the man witnessed several meetings involving groups of wealthy young men driving Maseratis and Rolls-Royces at the Pomana Rd home, he said.

Several of Zhong’s companies had close ties to mainland China or Hong Kong.

Digipost was bought in 2017 with a large sum from a foreign financier unknown to the accountant who handled the sale, Matthew Bellingham.

Among Zhong’s creditors listed in the Personal Property Securities Register is Quzhou 3D Film and Television Cultural Industry Fund Management Center (Limited Company). Quzhou is a city of 2.5 million people in eastern China.

Information on the Chinese company Aiqicha’s registration site shows that Quzhou 3D is legally represented by another company, Beijing 3D Film and Television Culture Industry Fund Management Ltd, which has Fang Sun listed as CEO. Sun was the fourth plaintiff in the 2019 Superior Court ruling.

Beijing 3D investment capital is listed on the same site with RMB 48 million ($ 10.4 million).