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Thirty-five persons were sentenced for student loan fraud.
The Court heard that Police received a referral from the Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA) in September 2010, alleging some applicants were found using false documents for applying non-means-tested loans. The loans, ranged from $48,000 to $69,600, accounted for a total amount over $3 million.
Since October 2010, officers of Commercial Crime Bureau have arrested 53 men and 18 women, aged 19 to 56, for conspiring with the intermediaries of educational institutions to apply for loans from SFAA by using false documents.
Upon in-depth investigations, a total of 34 loan applicants (28 males and six females) and a male intermediary were charged with offences of ．fraud・ or ．conspiracy to defraud・. The hearings took place between October 2012 and August 2013. All 35 defendants were convicted with sentences ranged from 120 hours of community service to eight months・ imprisonment. Four of the defendants were ordered to repay the loans drawn, totalling $160,000, to SFAA.
Police reiterated that anyone who uses or aids others to use a false document with intent to defraud of any government subsidy commits a serious offence, and shall be liable to imprisonment upon conviction.
Police report no. 455
Ends/Monday, August 19, 2013
Issued at HKT 22:22
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