The appeal court yesterday clamped down on traders who use bogus information to obtain licences by jailing two Canwell Forex International directors for nine months.
This overturned a previous court ruling which allowed the pair to go free after imposing a suspended sentence.
Cheng Chi-sin and Lam Shu-man yesterday lost their freedom however and began nine-month jail terms after judges at the Court of Appeal said the sentence did not reflect the crime.
'These were serious offences and the sentences failed to reflect this,' Mr Justice Simon Mayo told the court.
He added that: 'We are of the view that immediate custodial sentences were required.' There were 'not proper grounds' to justify a suspended sentence in this case, he continued.
The application to review the sentence had been brought to the court by the Secretary for Justice.
The two traders were sentenced at the District Court in April for submitting false bank account information that allowed them to obtain a trading licence from the Securities and Futures Commission.