Hong Kong’s biggest case of financial fraud in recent history reached its final chapters with the delivery of jail sentences to four individuals.
Jail sentences were delivered to ex-Convoy executives Mak Kwong-yiu (seven months and three-year corporate directorship ban), Christine Chan Lai-yee (five months) and Wong Shuk-on (four months) alongside former Gransing Securities general manager Lee Yick-ming (five months), according to a statement.
«We are pleased to see the criminal outcomes achieved in the case, which proves the effectiveness of our strategy to collaborate with other law enforcement agencies in [fighting] serious corporate fraud cases,» said Thomas Atkinson, executive director of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) which collaborated with Hong Kong’s anti-graft agency Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) since commencing a joint investigation in 2017.
The sentence marks a significant victory for the SFC after yielding no convictions in December last year from its largest investigation in history before pursuing an appeal.
Bond Conspiracy
The four individuals were found guilty last month of conspiring to cheat Convoy of HK$51 million (US$6.8 million) in commissions from four bonds sold between 2014 and 2015.
According to court proceedings, Mak and his three associates conspired to hire Gransing Securities to arrange the bond placements which led to the secret hiring of Convoy Investment Services (CIS) – which includes significant stakes held by Mak and the two other ex-Convoy executives – to help with debt sales in exchange for HK$49.6 million in commission and HK$1.2 million in bonus.
Details on the bond offerings were never disclosed to Convoy’s board of directors nor its shareholders.
Scandal-Ridden
Convoy has continued to remain in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
The firm is experiencing an ongoing tussle for control between Richard Tsai Ming-hsing, one of Taiwan’s wealthiest and chairman of Fubon Financial Holdings, and Shenzhen property magnate Kwok Hui-kwan.
Separately, Convoy is also part of the so-called «Enigma Network» – a cluster of up to 50 companies hidden by layers of cross-holdings and opaque corporate structures – which regulators allege has conspired to entrap minority shareholders.
