Trio jailed for fraud over bogus purchases of electrical appliances
2007-4-10
Three persons, charged by the ICAC, were today (Monday) sentenced to jail terms ranging from 15 to 27 months at the District Court for fraudulently inducing two banks to make payments totalling over $1.4 million to two electrical appliances retailers over bogus credit card purchases of electrical appliances.
Lam Chun-kit, 39, operator of Hero Ocean Finance Limited (Hero Ocean), received an imprisonment of 15 months, while Lam Wai-hung, 35, director of Hero Ocean, was jailed for 21 months.
Duncan Tam, 58, director-cum-shareholder of Veto Limited (Veto), was sentenced to 27 months' imprisonment.
Lam Chun-kit earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to defraud. Lam Wai-hung and Tam were convicted of four and two similar offences respectively.
In sentencing, Deputy Judge Rickie Chan said the offences committed by the defendants were serious.
The judge added that the defendants' acts were prejudicial to the credit card system, and impaired the image of Hong Kong as an international financial centre.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Inquiries subsequently revealed the above offences.
The court heard that between September 2003 and April 2005, the defendants had instructed a number of loan borrowers with poor credit history to make bogus purchases from Veto and Chung Yuen Electrical Company Limited (Chung Yuen).
The borrowers were required to present their credit cards at the two retailers for completing the transactions of the respective goods they had purportedly purchased.
They were also asked to sign the installment plan authorization forms of BOC Credit Card (International) Limited and Dah Sing Bank Limited.
As a result, the two banks were induced to make payments totalling over $1.4 million to Veto and Chung Yuen in relation to the bogus purchases, the court was told.
The amount of loans the borrowers obtained from Hero Ocean was equivalent to the price of their respective bogus purchases. Hero Ocean charged the borrowers an interest calculated at 40 per cent of the loan amount, as well as a handling fee ranging from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the amount after deducting the interest, the court heard.
The court also heard that the loan borrowers never picked up the goods they had purportedly purchased. Instead, the goods were subsequently resold by the defendants for profits.
The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Wong Hin-lee, assisted by ICAC officer Dominic Cheung.
Lam Chun-kit, 39, operator of Hero Ocean Finance Limited (Hero Ocean), received an imprisonment of 15 months, while Lam Wai-hung, 35, director of Hero Ocean, was jailed for 21 months.
Duncan Tam, 58, director-cum-shareholder of Veto Limited (Veto), was sentenced to 27 months' imprisonment.
Lam Chun-kit earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to defraud. Lam Wai-hung and Tam were convicted of four and two similar offences respectively.
In sentencing, Deputy Judge Rickie Chan said the offences committed by the defendants were serious.
The judge added that the defendants' acts were prejudicial to the credit card system, and impaired the image of Hong Kong as an international financial centre.
The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Inquiries subsequently revealed the above offences.
The court heard that between September 2003 and April 2005, the defendants had instructed a number of loan borrowers with poor credit history to make bogus purchases from Veto and Chung Yuen Electrical Company Limited (Chung Yuen).
The borrowers were required to present their credit cards at the two retailers for completing the transactions of the respective goods they had purportedly purchased.
They were also asked to sign the installment plan authorization forms of BOC Credit Card (International) Limited and Dah Sing Bank Limited.
As a result, the two banks were induced to make payments totalling over $1.4 million to Veto and Chung Yuen in relation to the bogus purchases, the court was told.
The amount of loans the borrowers obtained from Hero Ocean was equivalent to the price of their respective bogus purchases. Hero Ocean charged the borrowers an interest calculated at 40 per cent of the loan amount, as well as a handling fee ranging from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the amount after deducting the interest, the court heard.
The court also heard that the loan borrowers never picked up the goods they had purportedly purchased. Instead, the goods were subsequently resold by the defendants for profits.
The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Wong Hin-lee, assisted by ICAC officer Dominic Cheung.