One-legged fraudster must repay HK$2m

A fraudster must repay more than HK$2 million to an elderly victim he tricked and robbed by impersonating 46 different people, the High Court ruled yesterday.

High Court Recorder Anderson Chow Ka-ming ordered Chung Man-chi, 67, to pay Lau Yuen-ying, 70, HK$2.1 million plus interest in compensation for money he took from Lau between 2002 and 2004.

Chung pretended to be his own brother, lawyers and investigators, bank officers and many other people who asked for loans under different pretexts to dupe Lau, court papers showed. He also pretended to have died, impersonating relatives who asked Lau to help with his funeral expenses.

Chung was jailed for three and a half years in 2005, for one count of fraud and two of theft for his crimes against Lau. He was released in August 2007. Yesterday's ruling was the result of a civil claim.

The two men met in hospital in 2002 when they each had a leg amputated. Initially Chung cheated Lau by claiming that he knew some influential mainland officials who could arrange for Lau's son, who lived on the mainland, to settle in Hong Kong.

After Lau paid him some HK$250,000, Chung went on to masquerade as his own brother - even though he had no brother. The 'brother' told Lau that Chung was badly ill and needed a liver transplant in the United States. Chung had been assaulted by public security bureau officers on the mainland, for failing to pay enough money to get Lau's son resettled in Hong Kong, the 'brother' said.