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More than US$15 million could have been siphoned from gold miner Freda Rebecca (formerly Mwana Africa) through a series of underhand dealings by its new owners, insiders have alleged. Freda Rebecca is a unit of Asa Resources. At the centre of the allegations is Mr Yat Hoi Ning, who was board chair at Freda Rebecca until last week when he was booted out following The Sunday Mail’s exposé of alleged shipments of gold ore from the mine to China.

Mr Yat is also shareholder in his personal capacity as well as through China International Mining Group Corporation.
CIMGC bought 16,2 percent of Mwana Africa in April 2012, and Mr Yat holds 7,6 percent of the mining concern.
The Sunday Mail Business reported on April 16 that the businessman centralised control of Freda Rebecca through expatriate employees Mr Chui Kwan (group finance director), Mr Edmund Zhang (commercial manager) and Mr Roy Shum (finance manager).
It is alleged that Mr Yat, through his proxies, dictated “all payment processes, staff appointments and policy reviews and any other activities at the mine”.

This, sources say, enabled him to both siphon money and smuggle gold. Asa Resources on Wednesday said it had fired Mr Yat and Mr Chui over the scandal, particularly for US$4,3 million that is missing from Freda Rebecca accounts.
But sources say the prejudice is higher than US$4,3 million.

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