2 guilty of bank fraud
Two textile machine dealers were found guilty yesterday of cheating DBS Bank into granting loans of more than HK$300 million by helping its mainland customers to set up shell companies in Hong Kong and exaggerating the price of machines.
Henry Chee Hoi-suen, 61, and Raymond Yu Man-chiu, 44, were convicted of 13 counts of conspiracy to defraud for submitting false documents to DBS between May 2005 and June 2007, causing it to release loans to others. Chee was also convicted of offering Euro22,900 and HK$11,000 to an Italian businessman who worked for the manufacturer of the machines.
In the District Court, Deputy Judge Timothy Casewell refused to grant bail. They were remanded in custody, pending sentencing on August 12.
Chee, a director of Motionning Industrial which imported textile machines from Italy and sold them to mainland buyers, and Yu, a manager, helped mainland buyers to set up shell companies in Hong Kong so that DBS Bank would lend them more money. The bank would normally approve loans of up to 90 per cent for the price of the machines for local applicants but only 60 to 80 per cent for mainland applicants.
The two also told an accountant to inflate the price of machines from Euro40,000 a unit to between Euro55,000 and Euro58,500 in invoices submitted to DBS for loans. DBS issued the HK$300 million in letters of credit.
