Design firm's ex-bosses face ICAC fraud charges
Three former senior executives of a Hong Kong-based innovative design company, including an award-winning designer, were charged by the ICAC yesterday with conspiracy to defraud in relation to the company's listing in Singapore and deception involving HK$7.5 million in bank loans.
The defendants are Mah Pat Y., 54, former executive chairman and designer of Daka Designs Limited; Raymond Chow Yiu-man, 56, former chief executive of Daka Designs; and Kevin Leung Kwok-wah, 46, the company's former chief financial controller.
Chow and Mah face a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud, while the three of them are charged with another similar offence. Chow alone faces six other charges of conspiracy to defraud.
They have been released on Independent Commission Against Corruption bail and will appear in Eastern Court tomorrow morning for mention, and the case will be transferred to the District Court.
Mah is a prominent designer and founder of Daka. The company's one-touch automatic can opener won a top award in the US for international design excellence in 2007. Daka was listed as a successful design and innovative company, according to information on the Trade Development Council website.
One of the charges alleges that Chow and Mah conspired with another person to defraud Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX), the creditors and potential investors of Daka Designs. They are alleged to have dishonestly caused a transfer of 32 per cent of the shares of Daka Industrial Ltd, owned by Daka Development Ltd, to that person.
They are also accused of misrepresenting the financial position of Daka Designs and its subsidiary, Daka Development, in the prospectus of Daka Designs dated July 2, 2004. As a result, the duo allegedly induced SGX to approve the application of Daka Designs for listing in Singapore.
Another charge alleges that Chow, Mah and Leung conspired with another person to defraud existing and potential shareholders of Daka Designs and SGX.
The three are alleged to have falsified receipts, commercial invoices, delivery notes and accounting records to inflate the turnover and profit figures of another subsidiary of Daka Designs - Briga Group (Macao Commercial Offshore) Co Ltd - to more than HK$8.9 million.
They are also alleged to have dishonestly compiled and published documents, including the annual report of Daka Designs, which contained inflated turnover and profit figures of Briga for the financial year ended March 31, 2004.
It is alleged that the defendants misled existing and potential shareholders of Daka Designs and SGX over the true financial position of the company, and prevented SGX from taking any action against the company for its failure. The remaining six charges allege that Chow conspired with others to defraud six banks in Hong Kong for loans totalling more than HK$7.5 million.
