Duo jailed for $65m credit fraud over false claim of property pledge
2002-11-20
A woman and her younger brother, charged by the ICAC, were today (Wednesday) jailed for 11 years and seven and a half years respectively at the Court of First Instance for their involvement in a fraudulent scheme to obtain bank credit facilities totalling $65.5 million.
The court heard that the defendants had deceived the board of directors of International Wisdom & Mercy VDA S.A. (IWM) by pledging an IWM property to a bank in order to obtain the credit facilities, and made false representation to the bank that the compa ny had consented to the pledge.
Wong Hiu-shui, 44, shareholder of IWM, and her businessman brother Wong Fai-tung, 34, were earlier found guilty of one count of forgery, one of using false instruments, and two counts of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception by a jur y.
The court ordered the defendants be disqualified as a company director for 15 years.
In sentencing, Deputy Judge Anthony To said a longer jail term was meted out to Wong Hiu-shui in view of her calculated act in the fraudulent scheme, which involved a massive amount of money. The judge also reprimanded her for breaching the trust placed on her by IWM.
The deputy judge also remarked that while Wong Hiu-shui's brother, Wong Fai-tung, was not the instigator of the fraud, he nevertheless had full knowledge of assisting his sister in breaching fiduciary duties.
The case arose from a corruption complaint. ICAC enquiries revealed the fraudulent offences.
The defendants were convicted of making and using false documents, consisting of minutes of meetings of the IWM board of directors, written resolutions of the shareholders as well as declarations of the directors and shareholders, in relation to two mortg ages on a property in Kent Road, Kowloon Tong.
Two other charges stated that the defendants had procured by deception from Sin Hua Bank the execution of a valuable security, namely the two mortgages dated March 1, 1999, with the bank as mortgagee and IWM as mortgagor, and Tacglory Limited (Tacglory) a nd P&T Motors (China) Limited (P&T) as borrowers.
Tacglory and P&T were companies controlled by the defendants.
The offences took place between February and March 1999.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos, assisted by ICAC officer Choi Shu-keung.
The court heard that the defendants had deceived the board of directors of International Wisdom & Mercy VDA S.A. (IWM) by pledging an IWM property to a bank in order to obtain the credit facilities, and made false representation to the bank that the compa ny had consented to the pledge.
Wong Hiu-shui, 44, shareholder of IWM, and her businessman brother Wong Fai-tung, 34, were earlier found guilty of one count of forgery, one of using false instruments, and two counts of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception by a jur y.
The court ordered the defendants be disqualified as a company director for 15 years.
In sentencing, Deputy Judge Anthony To said a longer jail term was meted out to Wong Hiu-shui in view of her calculated act in the fraudulent scheme, which involved a massive amount of money. The judge also reprimanded her for breaching the trust placed on her by IWM.
The deputy judge also remarked that while Wong Hiu-shui's brother, Wong Fai-tung, was not the instigator of the fraud, he nevertheless had full knowledge of assisting his sister in breaching fiduciary duties.
The case arose from a corruption complaint. ICAC enquiries revealed the fraudulent offences.
The defendants were convicted of making and using false documents, consisting of minutes of meetings of the IWM board of directors, written resolutions of the shareholders as well as declarations of the directors and shareholders, in relation to two mortg ages on a property in Kent Road, Kowloon Tong.
Two other charges stated that the defendants had procured by deception from Sin Hua Bank the execution of a valuable security, namely the two mortgages dated March 1, 1999, with the bank as mortgagee and IWM as mortgagor, and Tacglory Limited (Tacglory) a nd P&T Motors (China) Limited (P&T) as borrowers.
Tacglory and P&T were companies controlled by the defendants.
The offences took place between February and March 1999.
The prosecution was today represented by Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos, assisted by ICAC officer Choi Shu-keung.