A former director of a printing equipment company was today (Thursday) sent to jail for one-and-a-half years for masterminding a scam to inflate printing machinery prices and help customers submit false contracts to finance companies for obtaining loan fa cilities totalling $42 million.

Lau Kin-yu, 44, former director of Sungrafic (BW) Printing Equipment Co. Ltd. (Sungrafic), was today found guilty at Kwun Tong Magistracy on a total of 39 offences, including procuring an entry in a bank record and false accounting.

In sentencing, Magistrate Mr Li Wai-chi reprimanded the defendant for dishonest conduct of business.

The case arose from a corruption complaint alleging that a proprietor of a printing machine company might have offered bribes to some finance company staff to help customers obtain credit facilities.

Thirty-two others, including 31 buyers and an employee of Sungrafic, charged in relation to the scam had pleaded guilty and received sentences up to 14 months' jail.

The court heard that between April and July 1994, the defendant had prepared various false contracts and inflated invoices on behalf of Sungrafic in relation to printing machinery sold to a number of customers.

ICAC investigation revealed that some of the invoices were inflated by over 50 percent, while others involved bogus transactions.

Such bogus documents were submitted to six finance companies, which subsequently released credit facilities totalling $42 million to the buyers.

The prosecution was today represented by Emily Cheung on a fiat, assisted by ICAC officer Nicholas Chow.