Hong Kong Court Denies Evergrande's Hui Ka Yan Request to Pay Legal Fees from Seized Assets
nashnova research
Hong Kong's High Court rejected a bid by Hui Ka Yan's lawyers to tap roughly HK$1.2 million in receivership assets for legal fees — with a mainland confiscation order and a Hong Kong receivership both in force, the funding lifeline for his defence is nearly severed.
Why did the court reject the fee request?
Hui's lawyers argued he is in detention, cannot communicate with counsel, and is barred from discussing his assets — leaving receivership funds as the only option.
Justice H. Au-Yeung dismissed the argument: the legal team failed to prove the receivership assets were the sole possible funding source.
The judge also asked whether Hui's family could pay. The lawyers responded: no evidence the family is willing to cover the costs.
This means → the court found the "no alternative" premise unsubstantiated, so the application fell at the first logical hurdle.
What is the liquidators' position?
The liquidators' objection cut even deeper: since the lawyers cannot communicate with Hui, they lack authority to make the application on his behalf.
In plain terms = if you cannot even obtain your client's instructions, you have no standing to spend his money.
This reflects a clear priority — preserve assets first to repay Evergrande's roughly $45 billion in debt.
How much wealth does Hui still have, and where is it?
Liquidators are pursuing approximately $7.7 billion in Hui's assets worldwide, traced mainly to his Evergrande shareholding and years of dividends.
Bloomberg estimates Hui cashed out more than $7 billion in dividends from Evergrande over roughly the past decade.
Yet a mainland court last month ordered confiscation of his assets, and Hong Kong's High Court last year appointed the Evergrande liquidators as receivers over his property.
This means → with orders from both jurisdictions stacking up, the pool of assets Hui can freely access has shrunk to almost nothing.
What does this mean for his defence going forward?
The mainland confiscation order blocks onshore assets; the Hong Kong receivership freezes offshore assets; this fee application has now been denied — payment channels are virtually zeroed out.
Evergrande defaulted on offshore bonds in late 2021, failed multiple restructuring attempts, and received a winding-up order in Hong Kong in 2024 — there is no corporate lifeline left either.
In plain terms = Hui's defence team faces a starkly practical question: who pays, and with what — and the answer will determine whether his legal fight can continue at all.
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