Lily Chiang to face fraud charges in District Court next month
The fraud charges against businesswoman Lily Chiang Lai-lei will proceed in the District Court next month.
Chiang, the former chairwoman of the General Chamber of Commerce, was mentioned in the Eastern Court yesterday - after her bid for a High Court jury trial was quashed last month - for charges of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting in connection with an alleged HK$7.5 million share-option fraud.
Her defence lawyers initially applied for a four-month adjournment of the criminal proceedings, but the prosecution objected because the case had already been adjourned a few times.
The charges against Chiang are also connected with her former employee Tahir Hussain Shah, 45, who is accused of one count of conspiracy to defraud and two counts of making false statements. The charges stemmed from share options granted to employees of Pacific Challenge Holdings, a listed brokerage that was formerly run by Chiang.
Chiang and Pau Kwok-ping, 54, former chief executive of Eco-Tek Holdings, also face two counts of fraud stemming from alleged dealings during the company's initial public offering. Pau is also applying for a judicial review for a jury trial in the case and proceedings could only start after a decision was made, the court was told.
Meanwhile, the court heard that Chiang was due to give birth in June.
Acting Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai decided to send the cases to the District Court to decide whether they would be combined. The case was adjourned to April 3.
