Two men were today (Monday) respectively given a jail sentence and community service order for conspiring with a number of people to stage a spate of traffic accidents in order to swindle insurance claims.

The court heard that between 1996 and 1999, a syndicate had made about 28 fraudulent motor insurance claims, totalling $2.4 million, against 11 insurance companies through such "staged" accidents.

District Court Judge Chua today sentenced garage worker Nip Wai-kwong, 32, to two years' imprisonment; while businessman Chan Wing-keung, 43, was ordered to perform 180 hours of community service.

The defendants were amongst 22 arrested in an ICAC operation in January last year.

Two masterminds of the scam were earlier jailed for 38 1/2 months and 30 months respectively after pleading guilty to similar charges; while four others charged were sentenced to community service orders.

The case arose from a corruption complaint alleging that some insurance assessors might have taken bribes to facilitate false claims of motor insurance.

Though the corruption allegation was not substantiated, ICAC investigations uncovered a series of well-organised insurance scams involving deliberate car crash incidents.

Nip and Chan had earlier pleaded guilty to three conspiracy offences.

They admitted having conspired with others to defraud officers of the Hong Kong Police Force by prejudicing them in the exercise of their public duties and various insurance companies, by dishonestly:

- deliberately damaging certain motor vehicles;

- falsely making reports to the Hong Kong Police Force that there were accidents involving those motor vehicles;

- falsely making insurance claims for damages sustained by those vehicles; and

- falsely causing various insurance companies to pay compensation.

The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Martin Hui, assisted by ICAC officer Kelvin Choi.