Hong Kong’s anti-corruption watchdog has charged five more people in an ongoing investigation of major local insurance broker Convoy involving fraud valued at nearly $18 million.
The main accusations involve the conspiracy to defraud Convoy Global Holdings to pay $11.4 million to acquire a company, True Surplus, which was unknowingly owned (55 percent) by Convoy executive director Roy Cho Kwai Chee, the alleged mastermind behind the incident.
Cho was charged in May, granted bail of $89,600 and barred from leaving Hong Kong. According to Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Cho did not disclose that he was a substantial shareholder in Convoy and his major shareholdings in True Surplus at the time as required by law.
More revelations, more charges
The latest charges yesterday were issued against a stock broker and four former Convoy senior executives which includes former chief financial officer Christie Chan Lai Yee and former executive director Byron Tan Ye Kai, both of whom were accused of misleading the firm to acquire True Surplus.
In addition, Chan had also worked with former Convoy executive director Mark Mak Kwong Yiu and manger Wong Shuk On alongside Gransing Securities general manager Lee Yick Ming to defraud and induce Convoy to pay $6.4 million in commission for a placement of bonds. Lee remains as general manager of Gransing Securities.
A December 2017 raid to offices and other Convoy-related premises led to the arrest for four people, including Chan and Mak alongside former Convoy chairman Quincy Wong Lee Man and vice chairman Rosetta Fong Sut Sam, the latter of whom have not been charged.
The firm since appointed new senior management team led by chairman Johnny Chen Chi Wang. Under this new team, several writs have been filed including a claim for $92 million compensation from Cho and 12 others reading a series of losses at subsidiary Convoy Collateral.
