DAVID Chiu Tat-cheong was yesterday acquitted of a multi-million dollar bank fraud conspiracy after a four-year battle to prove his innocence.
In a surprise move, Senior Assistant Crown Prosecutor Mr Joseph Pethes told Mr Justice Leonard at the start of what was supposed to be a two-month trial that the Crown would offer no evidence against Mr Chiu.
Mr Chiu, the chief executive and managing director of Far East Consortium Ltd, had pleaded not guilty to four counts of conspiracy to falsify documents of the Far East Bank, purporting to show that credit facilities of more than $169 million had been granted by the bank to various companies, and two counts of conspiracy to furnish false information to the bank to negotiate letters of credit.
This brings to an end the case against Mr Chiu, 39, and his father, Mr Deacon Chiu Te-ken, which was fought all the way to the Privy Council, seeking a stay based mainly on the grounds of the delay in bringing the prosecution.
The offences were alleged to have been committed between 1982 and 1985, but Deacon was not arrested until 1988 and David until February 1989.
Mr Deacon Chiu was finally granted a stay last month by Mr Justice Leonard, who held that he could not have a fair trial because he had suffered a serious deterioration in his intellectual and memory functions during the delay in bringing the charges.