Three persons were today (Tuesday) charged by the ICAC for their alleged roles in a fraudulent scheme to deceive several banks of Letters of Credit (L/C) facilities totalling $76 million.

Ong Ching-yee, 50, manageress of China Aluminium Co. Ltd. (China Aluminium); Cheng Kwok-man, 49, and Liu Muk-chau, 47, both partners of Meng & Cheng Trading Company (Meng & Cheng), will appear at Eastern Magistracy at 9:30 am tomorrow (Wednesday) on five charges of conspiracy to defraud.

The defendants faced two joint charges which alleged them of conspiring with Ong Yew-chee (also known as Ong We-kiam) to defraud a bank by dishonestly:

- causing China Aluminium to apply and utilise credit facilities granted by the bank in the form of L/Cs;

- submitting false documents to the bank purportedly to evidence genuine underlying commercial transactions between China Aluminium and Meng & Cheng; and

- causing the bank to release funds to Meng & Cheng under the said L/Cs.

Cheng and Liu were further charged with three counts of conspiring with Ong Yew-chee, Tan Tik-bing and Wong Siu-tak to defraud several banks in relation to L/C applications by Sin Guen Trading Company and Fukien Sea-Product (HK) Company Limited by similar fraudulent means, and causing the banks to release funds to Meng & Cheng.

The alleged offences took place between June 1994 and February 1998.

The case arose from a corruption complaint alleging that some bank staff might have accepted bribes for facilitating a L/C fraud. ICAC investigations revealed the alleged conspiracy offences.

The defendants have been released on ICAC bail, pending their court appearances tomorrow.