An academic couple cannot hide behind a shelf company which they employed as 'a cloak for deception', the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.
Dr Julian Leung Yat-ming, 47, and Dr Sophia Leung Suk-fong, 44, now face a government bid to increase their suspended nine-month jail terms.
Marble Shine was a shelf company whose only assets were the two flats in which the couple lived while claiming $1.5 million in housing allowances from two universities.
Their employers had granted them housing allowances towards the payment of rent for leased accommodation. Their sentence, suspended for two years, was handed down at the District Court in July.
The couple were also ordered to repay the two universities $1,544,370.
Their application for leave to appeal against their convictions was dismissed by Mr Justice Gerald Nazareth, Mr Justice Michael Stuart-Moore and Mr Justice Simon Mayo in the Court of Appeal.
Mr Justice Mayo, giving the judgment of the court, rejected the couple's contention that the corporate veil of Marble Shine should not be lifted.