Man jailed for false accounting

A 78-year-old man was sentenced to 19 months' imprisonment for false accounting and criminal liability for misstatement in a prospectus at the High Court today (March 1).

The court heard that in 1985, the Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) received a referral concerning malpractice of a listed company.

Investigations revealed that between October 1982 and June 1983, the listed company generated bogus transactions with a view to projecting a paper profit of $18.4 million instead of a loss of $0.85 million so as to attract the public to buy its shares.

The case was then reported to the CCB for investigation. Officers of CCB arrested the 78-year-old man, an ex-chairman of the listed company, a 47-year-old male employee and a 55-year-old female employee in connection with the case in September 1988.

The trio were jointly charged with 15 counts of false accounting and one count of criminal liability for misstatement in a prospectus. However, the 78-year-old man absconded from Hong Kong prior to the trial in November 1990. The 55-year-old female employee was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment while the 47-year-old male employee was acquitted of the charges.

The 78-year-old man was arrested in Los Angeles, the United States in November 2002 and was subsequently extradited to Hong Kong in November 2005.

The man was convicted of two counts of false accounting and one account of criminal liability for misstatement in a prospectus and was sentenced to 19 months' imprisonment today.


Police Report No. 4

Issued by PPRB

Ends/Wednesday, March 1, 2006