Two former insurance agents charged by ICAC jailed for $750,000 commission fraud
2022-3-17
Two former insurance agents, charged by the ICAC, were today (March 17) respectively jailed for 37 months and 12 months for conspiracy to defraud an insurance company of commissions totalling over $750,000 by falsely representing that one of them had handled 10 insurance policies.
Tin Tak-ho, 47, former senior branch manager of Manulife (International) Limited (Manulife), was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment, while Alvin Tam Man-chan, 56, former insurance agent of Manulife, received a jail term of 12 months.
The duo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law. Tin earlier further pleaded guilty to five counts of forgery, contrary to Section 71 of the Crimes Ordinance.
In sentencing, District Court Judge Mr Isaac Tam Sze-lok said the court had to impose deterrent custodial sentences on the defendants as the duo had breached the trust placed on them and caused financial loss to the insurer concerned.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Subsequent enquiries revealed the above offences.
The court heard that at the material time, Tin was a senior branch manager of Manulife and Tam was his down-line agent. When an insurance product of Manulife was sold, the handling agent would receive a commission while his up-line managers would receive overriding commissions and/or bonuses from Manulife.
In December 2017, Manulife received 10 insurance policy application forms submitted by Tin. The application forms were purportedly signed by nine persons as applicants and Tam as the handling agent. Manulife subsequently released commissions totalling over $470,000 to Tam as the handling agent, and overriding commissions totalling about $280,000 to Tin in respect of those insurance policies.
ICAC inquiries revealed that the duo had reached an agreement for Tam to falsely represent as the handling agent of insurance policy applications handled by Tin. Tam did not procure the 10 insurance policies or meet the applicants concerned. The relevant initial premiums were arranged by Tin to pay to Manulife and Tam returned the commissions received from the company to Tin.
Had Manulife known that the 10 application forms contained false information, it would not underwrote and issued the insurance policies, nor would it paid the commissions and overriding commissions to Tam and Tin respectively.
Five of the relevant applicants confirmed that they had not applied for the insurance policies concerned and it was revealed that the relevant application forms were forged by Tin without their knowledge.
Manulife had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Paggie Lee, assisted by ICAC officers Jeff Chow and Romeo Chu.
Over the years, the ICAC has been actively providing corruption prevention services to insurance organisations and arranging ethics training for practitioners. For details, please visit the Ethics Promotion Website for the Insurance Industry (hkbedc.icac.hk/insurance/en/).
Tin Tak-ho, 47, former senior branch manager of Manulife (International) Limited (Manulife), was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment, while Alvin Tam Man-chan, 56, former insurance agent of Manulife, received a jail term of 12 months.
The duo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law. Tin earlier further pleaded guilty to five counts of forgery, contrary to Section 71 of the Crimes Ordinance.
In sentencing, District Court Judge Mr Isaac Tam Sze-lok said the court had to impose deterrent custodial sentences on the defendants as the duo had breached the trust placed on them and caused financial loss to the insurer concerned.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Subsequent enquiries revealed the above offences.
The court heard that at the material time, Tin was a senior branch manager of Manulife and Tam was his down-line agent. When an insurance product of Manulife was sold, the handling agent would receive a commission while his up-line managers would receive overriding commissions and/or bonuses from Manulife.
In December 2017, Manulife received 10 insurance policy application forms submitted by Tin. The application forms were purportedly signed by nine persons as applicants and Tam as the handling agent. Manulife subsequently released commissions totalling over $470,000 to Tam as the handling agent, and overriding commissions totalling about $280,000 to Tin in respect of those insurance policies.
ICAC inquiries revealed that the duo had reached an agreement for Tam to falsely represent as the handling agent of insurance policy applications handled by Tin. Tam did not procure the 10 insurance policies or meet the applicants concerned. The relevant initial premiums were arranged by Tin to pay to Manulife and Tam returned the commissions received from the company to Tin.
Had Manulife known that the 10 application forms contained false information, it would not underwrote and issued the insurance policies, nor would it paid the commissions and overriding commissions to Tam and Tin respectively.
Five of the relevant applicants confirmed that they had not applied for the insurance policies concerned and it was revealed that the relevant application forms were forged by Tin without their knowledge.
Manulife had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Paggie Lee, assisted by ICAC officers Jeff Chow and Romeo Chu.
Over the years, the ICAC has been actively providing corruption prevention services to insurance organisations and arranging ethics training for practitioners. For details, please visit the Ethics Promotion Website for the Insurance Industry (hkbedc.icac.hk/insurance/en/).