Henderson Group chairman Lee Shau-kee says he is willing to bet 100 to 1 that no transaction for apartments at the 39 Conduit Road block was faked.
But records from the Land Registry show that only one flat at the luxury project has so far been sold, despite an earlier claim by Henderson that contracts had been signed for 25 flats.
'If you guys can find out that we faked the deals or bought the flats ourselves, I can make a bet against you,' the tycoon told reporters. 'For every HK$10,000 you put down, I'll wager HK$1 million.'
Lee explained that some buyers had asked to delay payments and therefore the sale of some flats had yet to be completed. 'They asked for the transactions to be delayed. I said, 'no problem'. Delays of two to four months should be okay,' he said.
Sales at the 46-floor residential building in Mid-Levels West have been dogged by controversy since October, when a five-bedroom duplex sold for a world record price of HK$439 million - equal to HK$88,000 per square foot.
Henderson Land Development skipped 48 floor numbers at its 39 Conduit Road residential block so it could market the top two floors of the project as the 68th and 88th floors.
It was then revealed that all 24 apartments purportedly sold - including the record-setting duplex - were bought by companies registered in the British Virgin Islands - all using the same law firm.
