Company director admits $10m bribery over loan applications
2002-12-3
A company director, charged by the ICAC, today (Tuesday) admitted at District Court that he had offered $10 million in bribes to an employee of a finance company and several hundred thousand dollars to a Land Inspector of the Lands Department for assistan ce in obtaining loans with forged documents.
Fung Ping-yan, 49, director of Endenne Development Limited, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to offer advantages to an agent, two of conspiracy to offer advantages to a public servant, and one of conspiracy to defraud.
Judge Sweeney adjourned the case until December 23, 2002 for sentence, pending a background report. The defendant was remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
The court heard that between 1990 and 1999, Fung had obtained loans from AIG Finance (HK) Limited (AIG) (previously known as SPC Credit Limited) after pledging a number of village houses in Yuen Long and Pat Heung as security.
Fung subsequently defaulted on repayment to AIG in relation to six of the loans granted to him. It was discovered that the six properties pledged were either non-existent or of a much lower value.
Investigations revealed that valuers responsible for valuations of the pledged properties had acted on information given by Fung, while the Lands Department confirmed that most of the documents purportedly issued by the deparment and submitted by the defe ndant for applying the loans were forged.
The court heard that in approving the loans, a branch manager of AIG, who has since resigned, had solicited from the defendant a commission equivalent to 10 per cent of each loan amount.
During the above period, the defendant paid a total of $10 million in bribes for obtaining the loans, the court was told.
The court also heard that Fung had paid $30,000 to $50,000 on each occasion to a Land Inspector of the Lands Department, who has since retired, for obtaining the forged documents in support of the loan applications.
The bribes paid by the defendant to the inspector amounted to several hundreds of thousands dollars.
The ICAC commenced its investigation after receiving a referral from the police, alleging corruption in a suspected forgery case.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Eddie Sean, assisted by ICAC officer Stella Leung.
Fung Ping-yan, 49, director of Endenne Development Limited, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to offer advantages to an agent, two of conspiracy to offer advantages to a public servant, and one of conspiracy to defraud.
Judge Sweeney adjourned the case until December 23, 2002 for sentence, pending a background report. The defendant was remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.
The court heard that between 1990 and 1999, Fung had obtained loans from AIG Finance (HK) Limited (AIG) (previously known as SPC Credit Limited) after pledging a number of village houses in Yuen Long and Pat Heung as security.
Fung subsequently defaulted on repayment to AIG in relation to six of the loans granted to him. It was discovered that the six properties pledged were either non-existent or of a much lower value.
Investigations revealed that valuers responsible for valuations of the pledged properties had acted on information given by Fung, while the Lands Department confirmed that most of the documents purportedly issued by the deparment and submitted by the defe ndant for applying the loans were forged.
The court heard that in approving the loans, a branch manager of AIG, who has since resigned, had solicited from the defendant a commission equivalent to 10 per cent of each loan amount.
During the above period, the defendant paid a total of $10 million in bribes for obtaining the loans, the court was told.
The court also heard that Fung had paid $30,000 to $50,000 on each occasion to a Land Inspector of the Lands Department, who has since retired, for obtaining the forged documents in support of the loan applications.
The bribes paid by the defendant to the inspector amounted to several hundreds of thousands dollars.
The ICAC commenced its investigation after receiving a referral from the police, alleging corruption in a suspected forgery case.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Eddie Sean, assisted by ICAC officer Stella Leung.