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A 54-year-old woman and a 48 year-old man were sentenced to 54 months and 32 months¡¦ imprisonment respectively at District Court today (October 15) for conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to possess false instruments.
The court heard that between September 2011 and May 2012, the two Mainland defendants impersonated the owners of two properties in Chai Wan and opened bank accounts in their names. Then they applied for mortgage loan from a local finance company with forged title deeds. The female defendant also applied for a second mortgage loan on the same property with another finance company and successfully obtained a total of HK$6.2 million.
In May 2012, the finance company found discrepancies between the title deeds submitted by the defendants and the true copies filed with the Land Registry. A report was made to Police.
Investigations were taken over by the Police Commercial Crime Bureau. Both defendants were arrested on May 29 with false identity documents in the name of the real property owner seized on the male defendant.
The defendants were charged with conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to possess of false instruments. The sentence was handed down today.
Police remind the trade to carefully scrutinise mortgage applications including the validity of the mortgage deeds. A report should be made to Police in case of any suspicion.
Police Report No. 388
Ends/Monday, October 15, 2012
Issued at HKT 20:56
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