Brothers guilty of forging Highways Department vouchers to cheat $27m in loans
2000-6-20
Two directors of a construction company were found guilty at District Court today (Tuesday) for forging payment vouchers of the Highways Department to cheat credit facilities totalling $27 million from a bank.
Directors of Wing Mou Construction Company Limited (Wing Mou) Lai Kwok-ying, 38, and his brother Lai Kwok-man, 44, were each sentenced to 18 months ’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The two brothers were earlier charged by the ICAC with a total of 20 counts of forgery.
Judge Gerald Muttrie heard that Wing Mou was contracted by the Highways Department to carry out road maintenance works.
In order to obtain interim payment from the Department, the contractor had to send a staff to collect a payment voucher, signed and issued by the Department ’ s Accounting Officer. The staff who collected the voucher had to acknowledge receipt on the Department ’ s record.
In September 1997, Lai Kwok-ying managed to obtain unsigned payment vouchers from the Highways Department, on which Lai Kwok-man forged the signature of the Department ’ s Accounting Officer.
The forged documents were then submitted to the First Pacific Bank for application of short-term loans.
The court was told that between September 1997 and November 1998, Wing Mou submitted 20 such documents, all of which purported to have been signed by the Accounting Officer. Lai Kwok-ying also signed on some of the forged documents to certify them as tru e copies.
As a result, 18 short-term loans totalling $27.02 million were released to Wing Mou during the period.
The prosecution was today represented by Selwyn So on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Choi Shu-keung.
Directors of Wing Mou Construction Company Limited (Wing Mou) Lai Kwok-ying, 38, and his brother Lai Kwok-man, 44, were each sentenced to 18 months ’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The two brothers were earlier charged by the ICAC with a total of 20 counts of forgery.
Judge Gerald Muttrie heard that Wing Mou was contracted by the Highways Department to carry out road maintenance works.
In order to obtain interim payment from the Department, the contractor had to send a staff to collect a payment voucher, signed and issued by the Department ’ s Accounting Officer. The staff who collected the voucher had to acknowledge receipt on the Department ’ s record.
In September 1997, Lai Kwok-ying managed to obtain unsigned payment vouchers from the Highways Department, on which Lai Kwok-man forged the signature of the Department ’ s Accounting Officer.
The forged documents were then submitted to the First Pacific Bank for application of short-term loans.
The court was told that between September 1997 and November 1998, Wing Mou submitted 20 such documents, all of which purported to have been signed by the Accounting Officer. Lai Kwok-ying also signed on some of the forged documents to certify them as tru e copies.
As a result, 18 short-term loans totalling $27.02 million were released to Wing Mou during the period.
The prosecution was today represented by Selwyn So on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Choi Shu-keung.