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Police today (August 28) charged a 48-year-old male Japanese, a former financial director of an international company, with one count of conspiracy to defraud and one count of false accounting.

The case was revealed by the newly appointed management of the group in March 1998 when it took over the company from its former directors. Upon reviewing the accounting records, the new management found out that seven suspicious loans with a total value of HK$1,264 million were advanced between April 1995 and March 1997 to a number of companies under the control of some of the directors of the group.

Enquiries by the Commercial Crime Bureau indicated that the investment was bogus and some funds had been channelled to other companies of the group. About HK$689 million could not be recovered eventually. When the group went into liquidation in August 1998, the auditors, the creditors and the shareholders were defrauded by the overstated current assets.

The man was arrested upon his arrival from Japan at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (August 27).

He will appear in Eastern Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (August 29).

Police Report No. 4

Issued by PPRB

End/2130hours, Wednesday, August 28, 2002 (SH/KO)

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