Five men were today (Friday) sentenced to jail terms ranging from six months to 20 months at District Court for their involvement in a $1 million tax loan fraud.

Taxi driver Fung Kam-shun, 53, who acted as a middleman in the tax loan scam, received a jail sentence of 20 months, while another taxi driver Lee Ning-ying, 54, was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment.

Two other taxi drivers - Poon Chi-yin, 54, and Cheung Chun-kong, 45 - were jailed for six months and eight months respectively. Merchant Ho Heung-sing, 46, was given a six-month jail term.

Fung earlier pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy to defraud, while Lee, Poon, Cheung and Ho were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud each.

Judge Donald Christie said while the offences committed by the defendants were serious, various jail terms had been meted out taking into account their different roles in the tax loan scam.

The case arose from a referral from the management of the Belgian Bank, which suspected that its staff might have accepted bribes for improperly approving loans.

ICAC enquiries revealed the tax loan fraud, while the original corruption allegation was not substantiated.

The court heard that between December 1, 1999 and January 26, 2000, the five defendants had conspired with a person nicknamed "Tai Luk Chan" and other persons to defraud the Belgian Bank.

The defendants had falsely represented that they were genuine applicants for tax loans totalling $1,030,000, and submitted false documents, namely tax demand notes, employment letters and bank statements, to the bank to support the applications.

The bank subsequently approved tax loans totalling $970,000. Of the $970,000 tax loans approved, $280,000 had been released before the scam was exposed.

The prosecution was today represented by John Nicholas on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Paul Wong.