A B.C. Securities Commission panel has heard allegations that Paul Oei claimed a number of politicians were supporting a Metro Vancouver recycling plant project, allegedly the centre of an immigration-investment scam.
Oei, a prominent B.C. Liberal donor, is accused of an extensive fraud on Chinese investors, whom he allegedly impressed by “rubbing elbows” with B.C. politicians.
Investor Sui Zhang on Friday added Richmond Conservative MP Alice Wong’s name to the list of B.C. politicians the panel has heard Oei mentioned to investors, a list that includes Premier Christy Clark.
Lawyers for the commission have alleged Oei raised money from Chinese investors for recycling plant company Cascade, but diverted $6.9 million of $13.3 million for his own uses, including donations and luxury car rentals.
Oei denies wrongdoing. Outside the hearing Friday, Oei told Postmedia he does not want to comment during the hearing process.
Zhang told the panel that she and three others, including her sister, invested $100,000 in total with Oei for the Cascade project, because they believed the project was good for the environment. Zhang said she met Oei through her work as an insurance agent.
Zhang said Chinese investors were told if they invested over $500,000 with Cascade, they could immigrate to Canada. She said that she and others were told they could be confident their investment was safe because it was placed in the legal trust fund of Peschisolido and Co., a firm directed then by lawyer Joe Peschisolido, who is now a Richmond Liberal MP.
Like other investors who have testified this week, Zhang said that Oei showed investors a Chinese news article that touted Chinese investment in a B.C. environmental project that purportedly created “dozens of jobs.” The article showed a picture of Christy Clark with Chinese investors. Oei allegedly told investors one of the men pictured with Clark also planned to invest in Cascade.
“When we heard this news, everyone felt exciting,” Zhang said.
“Did Paul tell you (your investment) would be used on lease payments for his personal car?”
“No, of course not,” Zhang replied.
The panel was shown investment promotional material from Oei that included the name of Wong. Zhang said that Oei claimed to investors that Wong “was very impressed” with Cascade’s immigration-investment project.
Zhang said that Oei offered her commissions for introducing other investors.
Zhang said she received about $30,000 in commissions to introduce investors to Cascade, and she earned a commission for introducing a woman who invested $500,000 with Oei in order to get her daughter immigration status in Canada.
“Did Paul tell you the commissions were coming from your own investment?” lawyer Mila Pivnenko asked Zhang.
“No.”
“Did Paul tell you (Zhang’s investment) would be used on lease payments for his personal car?”
“No, of course not,” Zhang replied.
Zhang said Oei told her that he used his immigration company, Canadian Manu, to hold or sell her shares in the project, because Oei could represent the investments of many smaller investors by using Canadian Manu this way, and the Security Commission wouldn’t otherwise allow them to invest as individuals.
Zhang said Oei told investors they would get six per cent annual interest before the plant was operational, and after that, each year would be a potential return of over 25 per cent.
“I didn’t check (documents) because I trusted him as an insurance agent,” Zhang said. “So whatever the paper he gave us to sign, we said, ‘should be OK.’”
In cross-examination on Friday, investor May Chan acknowledged to Oei’s lawyer that after Cascade went bankrupt in 2013, she bought shares in Oei’s new company, Organic Eco-Centre Corp., because she still believed in the project.
Chan acknowledged to Oei’s lawyer that she understood when she invested that the project included risk, and that business costs for Cascade could include legal fees, advertising and payments of interest to investors.
B.C. Election records show that from November 2011 to November 2015, Paul Oei donated $55,787 to the B.C. Liberals. His wife Loretta Lai donated $10,565 to the party from April 2012 to August 2014. Canadian Manu Immigration and Financial Services Inc. and Organic Eco-Centre Corp., both named in the Security Commission fraud allegations, donated $1,080 to the B.C. Liberals from 2014 to 2015.
Related
