CHEATS and frauds will find it harder to slip through the legal net if recommendations in a Law Reform Commission report are adopted.
The commission has called for the creation of a substantive offence of fraud, a move it says will eliminate a number of vagaries and inconsistencies in the law.
Commission secretary Stuart Stoker said one of the biggest anomalies was that certain acts of deception were not considered criminal if they were carried out by an individual but, if two or more people teamed up to commit the same act, they could be charged with conspiracy to commit fraud.
These included defrauding another of land, taking confidential information, obtaining a loan by deception and spending borrowed money while knowing it could not be repaid.
Under the proposed legislation, these acts would be considered criminal under a new offence of fraud. While there is currently no fraud offence, some acts considered fraudulent are covered under the Theft Ordinance.
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce chief economist Ian Perkin welcomed the recommendation as a positive step towards clamping down on corporate crime.
'It clarifies the law, makes it simpler for authorities to prosecute and bring cases before the courts, which is all for the good,' Mr Perkin said.
