Thread: Hong Kong : French sell diplomat’s home for top price

Oh la la — French sell diplomat’s Hong Kong home for top price
Jun 08, 2011



The French government sold its Hong Kong diplomat’s residence in the highly-sought after Peak district for a staggering HK$580 million (US$74.5 million) in the city’s surging market.

Arnaud Bathelemy, France’s consul-general in Hong Kong and Macau, and now renter, said the decision was part of Paris’s streamlining of its real estate assets, reported the South China Morning Post News.

“The French government is not a speculator, for sure,” Bathelemy said. “But if we can make a good deal, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be as smart as man other people in Hong Kong.”

He explained that the property on 8 Pollock’s Path was sold to Ryoden Development on 3 June and is now being rented back to the French government for HK$250,000 (US$33,100) per month.

Bathelemy, a former investmest director of France’s sovereign fund, was appointed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy after his predecessor, Marc Fonbaustier, was recalled to Paris last November for stealing expensive wines at a private club.

The 11,222-square foot property was sold at an average of HK$51,684 (US$6,643) per square foot, making it one of the most expensive sales in the world.

The building sits at the top of the Peak and was made a grade II historic building last year.

Records from the Land Registry show that the French government took possession of the house in 1981 – along with its two-storey consulate general office in Admiralty Building and HK$90 million (US$11.6 million) from Palwell Ltd – in exchange for its previous official residence, Victoria Lodge on Old Peak Road.

Barthelemy said he had not begun looking for a new place, and would live with his wife in the house for another two years. “The house we have now in the Peak is not in a very good state. It’s very old. We would like to something more modern, but it’s not an emergency,” he said.

“We want to have a prestigious residence in Hong Kong, given the strengthening ties between France and Hong Kong, so I can invite people to come. We are reviewing our real estate assets all over the world.”

Meanwhile, he admitted that Fonbaustier had stolen wines, confirming previous official comments that it was “likely he did not meet the requirements of professional conduct for a French diplomat”.

He said Fonbaustier still works for the French government and had been demoted, “but what he does now is not public”.

Fonbaustier stole two bottles of wine from the Hong Kong Country Club, and was asked to return to Paris a year after taking the top post.

When Sarkozy asked Barthelemy to take over the position in February, it took him “less than a minute to say yes,” he said.

“Hong Kong reminds me a lot of New York, where I used to work,” said France’s former first secretary to the UN Security Council.

“I had never been to Hong Kong, and I was very surprised by the huge French presence here.

“People here are very nice. The Hong Kong government has also been very helpful.”

property-report.com

Typical, Belgium bastards...

Originally Posted by Mid

The 11,222-square foot property was sold at an average of HK$51,684 (US$6,643) per square foot, making it one of the most expensive sales in the world.

Damn!

There was an article in the South China morning post stating that HK's most expensive house was recently sold. It's sold for HK$800 million for a 8300 square foot house (HK96,362 a square foot, roughly 12,400 USD).

too much money and no enough assets to buy apparently in HK

a repeat of 1997 is long overdue in the region

then we will all be fucked,

I remember when the USG "streamlined" its overseas assets in te 1960's and sold off some beautiful houses they had owned, many of them since the WWII era. Within a decade or two, they ended up paying in annual rent for the same houses just about what they had sold them for years earlier.

his predecessor, Marc Fonbaustier, was recalled to Paris last November for stealing expensive wines at a private club.

Those rascally french at it again.

Originally Posted by Koojo

his predecessor, Marc Fonbaustier, was recalled to Paris last November for stealing expensive wines at a private club.

Those rascally french at it again.

I agree. Remarkable !

I hadn't heard that story. If it was just one bottle it might be explained away as one for the road, but two bottles in your jacket pockets does look like petty pilfering. He has ruined his career for that.

or maybe he was drunk,

Top French diplomat quits Hong Kong post after £4,000 burgundy vanishes | World news | The Guardian

It seems as though he did the same thing a month before ! (So I don't think he was sozzled - his minesweeping is a deliberate strategy)

quite hilarious

Originally Posted by Koojo

his predecessor, Marc Fonbaustier, was recalled to Paris last November for stealing expensive wines at a private club.

Those rascally french at it again.

Top French diplomat quits Hong Kong post after £4,000 burgundy vanishes
Wednesday 1 December 2010

Consul general Marc Fonbaustier accused of lifting two bottles of wine from exclusive Hong Kong club


Marc Fonbaustier is accused of hiding two very expensive bottles of burgundy in his suit.
Photograph: Information Services Department/AFP

The French consul general to Hong Kong has been forced to quit after he was accused of hiding two bottles of very expensive burgundy in his suit before making a quick exit from an exclusive club.

Marc Fonbaustier, 46, who had been France's most senior diplomat in Hong Kong and Macao for more than a year, resigned last week citing "strictly personal" reasons.

But sources from the Hong Kong justice system told Le Monde that Fonbaustier was under investigation for pilfering two bottles of wine from the exclusive Hong Kong Country Club.

The alleged theft was said to have taken place in the club's basement restaurant, the Wine Cellar, whose walls are lined with bottles and monitored by CCTV.

The Hong Kong paper Apple Daily reported the wine was worth up to ¤5,000 (about £4,200).

The paper said that a few months previously the consul had taken a very expensive bottle of wine from the Hong Kong Golf Club but had explained to police that he had mistaken it for a gift.

Fonbaustier, in his role as the most important French diplomat in the territories, had often vaunted the importance of French wine and the top vintages, particularly burgundy, drunk by Hong Kong high society.

Bernard Valero, spokesman for the French foreign office, confirmed Fonbaustier had been suspended and was under investigation.

He said his actions were "unlikely to meet the requirements of professional conduct for a French diplomat".

Valero told Le Monde Fonbaustier had "admitted the facts and paid reimbursement".

A former counsellor at the French embassy in New Delhi, Fonbaustier is married with three children.

guardian.co.uk

Originally Posted by Butterfly

or maybe he was drunk,

No maybe about it.
That's your defense is it?
He was drunk your honour.
Oh, well, that's alright then, in that case let him go.
Rape, murder, robbery?
He was drunk, that's all, let him go.

Originally Posted by Mid

He said his actions were "unlikely to meet the requirements of professional conduct for a French diplomat".

Unlikely, indeed...but don't rule it out...
A Thai diplomat, on the other hand...


Requirements, wtf? 555!
It's on his resume, now...

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Originally Posted by Mid

He said his actions were "unlikely to meet the requirements of professional conduct for a French diplomat".

Unlikely, indeed...but don't rule it out...
A Thai diplomat, on the other hand...


Requirements, wtf? 555!
It's on his resume, now...

It is and it will stick with him.

A career can get totally demolished by such incidents that signal ethical shortcomings, ones that seem to fall far short of punching the Boss.....

E mails.
Misuse of internet.
Expenses claim cheating.
Wandering hands.

Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog

A career can get totally demolished by such incidents that signal ethical shortcomings

and rightly so .

Originally Posted by Koojo

Originally Posted by Butterfly

or maybe he was drunk,

No maybe about it.
That's your defense is it?
He was drunk your honour.
Oh, well, that's alright then, in that case let him go.
Rape, murder, robbery?
He was drunk, that's all, let him go.

no, simply that he was having a good time and thought taking home a few bottles to continue the party would be good,

Originally Posted by Mid

Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog

A career can get totally demolished by such incidents that signal ethical shortcomings

and rightly so .

Well lets be careful of casting that first stone !

-Teakdoor readers could get busted for surfing the site during workhours.
-Teakdoor itself could be busted for cutting and pasting the intellectual property of other news organisations.

Cue: "ah but those two examples are different".....the thing is everyone thinks that their transgression is ok or harmless- ......till it bites them on the bum !

'Gross misconduct' can really come out of left field nowadays.

Diplomats .............................

suspect there ain't too many reading and even less posting

Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog

till it bites them on the bum !

^ Take Slap's pitbull bitch, for example...



At least he wouldn't be worrying how to clean his arse 'no more'...

The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog:
-Teakdoor readers could get busted for surfing the site during workhours.

Yes, and in some organisations it may well be a sackable offence according to your company's policy on such matters.

-Teakdoor itself could be busted for cutting and pasting the intellectual property of other news organisations.

A much greyer area, since it is perfectly legitimate to cross post News stories for the purpose of discussion. (Although Mid might be in trouble, as he merely posts them <heh>).

Cue: "ah but those two examples are different".....the thing is everyone thinks that their transgression is ok or harmless- ......till it bites them on the bum !

'Gross misconduct' can really come out of left field nowadays.

Rubbish. The filthy Frog in question is a low rent thief, pure and simple.

I'm only surprised he didn't rape a waitress on his way out.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I'm only surprised he didn't rape a waitress on his way out.

Yes, I was quite surprised at that.

You can clearly see in the photograph below that the lady is going "Where is my fucking Chateau Pap de Pap de Pap you thieving c*nt", and he is saying "I haven't got it, honest".

Probably just taking back what he believed was French property... I thought with Diplomatic immunity he could have gotten away with murder, never mind a bit of booze repatriation...

He is French though, so deserves all he gets.

I think the UK should steal back Hong Kong.

Originally Posted by rawlins

Probably just taking back what he believed was French property... I thought with Diplomatic immunity he could have gotten away with murder, never mind a bit of booze repatriation...

He is French though, so deserves all he gets.

I think the UK should steal back Hong Kong.

What do you mean, steal it back? We never owned it.