Man jailed for fraud and making a false declaration

A 60-year-old man was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment and disqualified from acting as director for fours years at the District Court today (December 19) for four counts of fraud by the officers of companies which have gone into liquidation and two counts of making a false declaration.

The court heard that the defendant was the director of a property management company. On August 1, 1994, a canopy of one of the buildings managed by the company in Aberdeen collapsed leading to a fatal incident. The company was liable for part of the compensation to the victims by the Court of First Instance on December 23, 1999.

Enquiries by Police Commercial Crime Bureau revealed that the defendant transferred the assets of the company of about $37.6 million to two overseas companies under his control in April 2001 to avoid the civil claim. The company was later wound up in July 2003 for not being able to settle the civil claim.

In addition, the defendant falsely claimed for exemption of stamp duty by filing two satutory declarations to the Stamp Office in May 2001 stating that the property transfers were for the reogansization of the group of companies.

The man was arrested in June 2005 and subsequently charged on December 5 this year with four counts of fraud by officers of companies which have gone into liquidation and two counts of making a false statement. The sentence was meted out in the District Court today.


Police Report No. 9
Issued by PPRB

Ends/Tuesday, December 19, 2006