Mortgage loan applicant charged as ICAC probe reveals $5.7m fraud
2022-9-23
A mortgage loan applicant was charged by the ICAC today (September 23) with deceiving two licensed money lenders into granting her two mortgage loans totalling $5.7 million by fraudulent means.
Cheung Pui-shan, 46, faces two counts of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law. She was released on ICAC bail, pending her appearance in the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts next Tuesday (September 27) for the case to be transferred to the District Court.
The defendant acquired a property in 2011. In December 2014, she pledged the property and took out a mortgage loan of about $3.3 million (loan 1) from Wing Fung Credit Limited (WFL), a licensed money lender.
The charges allege that between December 2014 and April 2015, the defendant conspired with a loan agent to defraud two other licensed money lenders, namely Universal Prestige Finance Company (UPL) and KP Financial Services Limited (KPL), by submitting copies of falsified loan agreements to the two licensed money lenders to falsely represent that the amount of loan 1 was $1.24 million or $800,000; thereby inducing UPL and KPL to respectively grant her a mortgage loan of $2.4 million and $3.3 million.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Upon completion of the investigation, the ICAC sought legal advice from the Department of Justice, which advised charging the defendant.
ICAC investigation revealed that at the material time, the market value of the above property was around $4.3 million to $5.4 million. Had UPL and KPL known the loan agreements provided by the defendant were false, they would not have granted her the loans concerned as the accumulated mortgage amount exceeded the market value of the property at that time.
UPL, KPL and WFL have rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
Cheung Pui-shan, 46, faces two counts of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law. She was released on ICAC bail, pending her appearance in the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts next Tuesday (September 27) for the case to be transferred to the District Court.
The defendant acquired a property in 2011. In December 2014, she pledged the property and took out a mortgage loan of about $3.3 million (loan 1) from Wing Fung Credit Limited (WFL), a licensed money lender.
The charges allege that between December 2014 and April 2015, the defendant conspired with a loan agent to defraud two other licensed money lenders, namely Universal Prestige Finance Company (UPL) and KP Financial Services Limited (KPL), by submitting copies of falsified loan agreements to the two licensed money lenders to falsely represent that the amount of loan 1 was $1.24 million or $800,000; thereby inducing UPL and KPL to respectively grant her a mortgage loan of $2.4 million and $3.3 million.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Upon completion of the investigation, the ICAC sought legal advice from the Department of Justice, which advised charging the defendant.
ICAC investigation revealed that at the material time, the market value of the above property was around $4.3 million to $5.4 million. Had UPL and KPL known the loan agreements provided by the defendant were false, they would not have granted her the loans concerned as the accumulated mortgage amount exceeded the market value of the property at that time.
UPL, KPL and WFL have rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.