A woman, who returned to Hong Kong in December last year to face trial for a counterfeit credit card bribery case after hiding for eight years, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at the District Court today (Tuesday).

Li Yin-mei, 43, was wanted by the ICAC since 1993. She surrendered herself to the ICAC in December last year at the Lo Wu Control Point.

The defendant earlier pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with Cheung Hung to offer at least $29,000 to a night manager of the Conrad Hotel between June 1991 and May 1992.

The bribe was for the night manager to provide Li and Cheung with credit card information of guests of the hotel.

Li and Cheung were arrested by the ICAC in 1992.

Li absconded while being put on bail pending ICAC investigation. Cheung was charged but failed to appear in court for trial in January 1993. The court then issued warrants for their arrests.

Cheung surrendered himself to the ICAC in December 2000 and was jailed for four-and-a-half years after trial.

The court heard that in 1991, Li and Cheung approached the night manager of the hotel for his assistance in copying guests' credit card information.

Cheung offered the manager a reward of $50 for each set of credit card information, and told him to contact Li once he had obtained such information.

Between June 1991 and May 1992, Li had, on a number of occasions, paid the manager about $29,000 in total.

The prosecution was today represented by Senior Government Counsel Johnny Chan, assisted by ICAC officer Nelson Lee.