Mo, the wife of jailed former Shanghai Land chairman Chau Ching-ngai, in an announcement in several Chinese newspapers Friday, disputed allegations by Next magazine about links with Liu. ``I never knew Liu,'' she said. ``Chau never, through my so-called relationship with Liu and his New Nongkai Global Investments, borrowed HK$2.1 billion from the Bank of China.''

Mo also challenged the report that Liu, through the Shanghai branches of Bank of China and China Construction Bank, offered her loans for Nongkai to buy repossessed and unfinished properties. Mo, along with five other parties, is currently facing a string of charges in Hong Kong by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in a trial that has been delayed after the phone-tapping surveillance methods used by the anti-graft watchdog came into question.

Chau, known in the mainland as Zhou Zhengyi, was jailed for three years early last year after being convicted of fraud, stock manipulation and falsifying corporate documents in China.

His problems originated with a HK$2.1 billion bridging loan to fund the 2002 acquisition of the wireless Internet company that he turned into Shanghai Land.

That company's collapse was also widely reported to have led to the arrest of Liu, then vice-chairman and chief executive of Bank of China (Hong Kong), who was accused of embezzlement. Liu was given a suspended death sentence by a mainland court last week after he was found guilty of embezzling 7.5 million yuan (HK$7.19 million) while taking a further 1.4 million yuan in bribes.

Mo said she will pursue legal action against the magazine and related parties over the report. vanson.soo@singtaonewscorp.com