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A 67-year-old man convicted of money laundering was sentenced to 32 months¡¦ imprisonment by the District Court today (August 23).
The court heard that the defendant who was a company director had applied to the bank for credit facilities in the amount of $8 million in December 2006, using the property of his business partner¡¦s mother in Ho Man Tin as security. He and a female impersonating the property owner attended a law firm to execute the mortgage and related documents. His application was eventually granted. In January 2007, he issued four cheques in the amount of $1.54 million drawn on the overdraft account of his company and no repayment had been made.
The case was disclosed when the real owner of the property received the mortgage letter from the bank which then reported the case to Police in January 2007. Police investigations revealed that the title deeds used as security for the mortgage were forged.
Officers of Commercial Crime Bureau arrested the defendant in May 2012. The defendant was subsequently charged with one count of dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence. He was convicted of the offence and the sentence was handed down today.
Police remind bank and legal practitioners to carefully scrutinise mortgage applications and in particular, to thoroughly check the validity of the mortgage deeds in question.
Police Report No. 253
Ends/Thursday, August 23, 2012
Issued at HKT 20:19
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