Judge ordered Chinese billionaire to spend 24 hours a day in luxury £6m apartment with pool

An out-of-bail Chinese businessman currently awaiting extradition in London has been able to live in a luxurious penthouse thanks to an unusual court ruling.

Billionaire Lee Chan, 70, was arrested by police at Heathrow Airport under an American warrant.

Co-Chairman of R&F Property Conglomerate denies claims by US authorities of offering bribes and kickbacks for construction project permits.

He had his Chinese and Canadian passports taken away, but was allowed to bail in his £6 million five-bedroom 43rd-floor penthouse overlooking the River Thames.

Mr. Zhang Li, Co-Chairman and President of R&F Properties Group, is currently out on luxury bail.

Chan was given access to a private pool after posting £15 million bail and agreeing to pay £200,000 for private security operations.

There, he posted £15 million bail and was given access to a private pool after agreeing to pay £200,000 for a private security operation to keep him under 24-hour surveillance.

The extraordinary arrangement revealed by The Times is said to be the best co-guarantor in British legal history.

The bail has been placed before the Westminster Magistrates Court and was revealed at a hearing yesterday.

JP was told Mr Zhang, worth an estimated $2.3 billion, is being guarded by British security firm Eminent Crisis Management, which works a 12-hour shift.

He was bailed in a £6 million five-bedroom 43rd floor penthouse overlooking the Thames.

Cameras watch him in his bedroom, and when he wants to take a dip he has to be escorted to the private pool.

The measure, taken yesterday by Judge John Zani, supersedes a previous condition where he had to be handcuffed on the lift to the pool.

“Wandsworth Prison doesn’t have many pools,” the judge said, but conceded that it “complies with complicated bail conditions that take time to sleep and settle.”

He agreed that Zhang could remove his electronic tag after the court told him the technology would not work well due to the weak signal.

Eminent’s Nicholas Howard said Zhang was “under surveillance 24/7,” adding that “he complies with all conditions.”

Ben Lloyd, an adviser to the U.S. government, urged against “progressive attempts to relax the terms.”

Zhang co-chairs R&F with billionaire Li Sze Lim, and founded the company together in 1994.

There are two big projects in London: Queen’s Square in Croydon and the Thames City development in Nine Elms.