Former executive extradited from Canada gets three years for HK$3m embezzlement
2001-12-11
A former executive of a computer products manufacturer, who was earlier extradited from Canada for a HK$3 million embezzlement scam, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at District Court today (Tuesday).
Jason Lai For, 35, former sales engineer of Epson Hong Kong Limited (Epson), was extradited to Hong Kong on September 27 this year after contesting extradition for three years in Canada.
Lai fled to Canada in 1995 before the ICAC commenced an investigation into the case.
The defendant earlier pleaded guilty to one count of theft and two of using a document with intent to deceive his principal, contrary to Section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
The case arose from a corruption complaint, alleging that Lai had accepted advantages from Epson clients as rewards for supplying computer products to them. ICAC enquiries revealed the theft offences.
The court heard that Lai, while employed by Epson between January and November 1995, was responsible for the sale of Epson products in Hong Kong, including floppy disk drives.
In September 1995, Lai planned to supply Epson disk drives to a local company, Wanstrow Limited (Wanstrow) for sale in the Mainland.
According to the company's policy, all Epson products must be supplied to the Mainland through an authorised agent.
Lai had used his own company, Hai Tong Electronics Limited (Hai Tong), to buy disk drives from Epson and resell them to Wanstrow through an intermediary company, Pacific Asia Company (Pacific), which was operated by Dicky Lee Che-kwan.
Lee falsely represented to Wanstrow that Pacific was an authorised agent of Epson in the Mainland.
On September 15, 1995, Hai Tong delivered 14,484 disk drives to Pacific, which were then collected by Wanstrow.
Wanstrow then paid US$398,880 (HK$3,081,339.43) by a Letter of Credit in favour of Pacific for the disk drives.
As instructed by the defendant, Lee deposited HK$2,950,000 out of the total payment received into Lai’s bank account, and retained the balance of HK$131,339.43 as repayment of a loan that Lai owed Lee.
Lai had also used two false documents, namely a credit terms application and a customer record, to cover up the theft.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Bianca Cheng, assisted by ICAC officer Desmond Lee.
Jason Lai For, 35, former sales engineer of Epson Hong Kong Limited (Epson), was extradited to Hong Kong on September 27 this year after contesting extradition for three years in Canada.
Lai fled to Canada in 1995 before the ICAC commenced an investigation into the case.
The defendant earlier pleaded guilty to one count of theft and two of using a document with intent to deceive his principal, contrary to Section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.
The case arose from a corruption complaint, alleging that Lai had accepted advantages from Epson clients as rewards for supplying computer products to them. ICAC enquiries revealed the theft offences.
The court heard that Lai, while employed by Epson between January and November 1995, was responsible for the sale of Epson products in Hong Kong, including floppy disk drives.
In September 1995, Lai planned to supply Epson disk drives to a local company, Wanstrow Limited (Wanstrow) for sale in the Mainland.
According to the company's policy, all Epson products must be supplied to the Mainland through an authorised agent.
Lai had used his own company, Hai Tong Electronics Limited (Hai Tong), to buy disk drives from Epson and resell them to Wanstrow through an intermediary company, Pacific Asia Company (Pacific), which was operated by Dicky Lee Che-kwan.
Lee falsely represented to Wanstrow that Pacific was an authorised agent of Epson in the Mainland.
On September 15, 1995, Hai Tong delivered 14,484 disk drives to Pacific, which were then collected by Wanstrow.
Wanstrow then paid US$398,880 (HK$3,081,339.43) by a Letter of Credit in favour of Pacific for the disk drives.
As instructed by the defendant, Lee deposited HK$2,950,000 out of the total payment received into Lai’s bank account, and retained the balance of HK$131,339.43 as repayment of a loan that Lai owed Lee.
Lai had also used two false documents, namely a credit terms application and a customer record, to cover up the theft.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Bianca Cheng, assisted by ICAC officer Desmond Lee.