"I just want to get a little better understanding about your knowledge back in 1993 at the time when you first saw Mr Marks. Do I take it that you had done some land acquisitions before then of residential properties?---Yes, mostly through my mother. She bought a lot of what we call land bank, which is residential houses.
Were they always houses or did you sometimes buy blocks and build houses on them?---I can't remember any that we built on. In fact, that was one of the reasons why I started Everland. I said to mum that this is not like Singapore, where capital appreciation is so quick that it doesn't matter about our ongoing costs; that whenever you get a piece of land you should develop it straightaway and that is how you make your money. So I would say that, no, most of them - you know, she just buys them, rents them out, and by the time you deduct all the expenses you make nothing. So, no, I would say - I mean, I can check if your Honour wants me to, but I don't think we did any development work.
All right. When back in 1973 (sic) if you bought a property knowing that part of the building was built on somebody else's land, what did you think the consequences would be?---I know exactly what that consequence is. I wouldn't have bought it in the first place but, if I did buy it, I knew that I would be, as I said, held ransom because they could charge me anything they want. It is their property."