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Jane Moir

Former CA Pacific boss Jason Wong But-sit has been cleared of stealing $248 million but guilty of false accounting.

 After two days of deliberations, a jury unanimously acquitted Wong of stealing the money from CA Pacific Finance to fund the $1.24 billion purchase of Central's Century Square in late 1997.

 Wong's defence was that the building was being bought for the group as a whole, and that he was fully authorised to do so. The $248 million in loans from CA Pacific Finance were part of the initial deposit.

 He was cleared of all eight theft charges relating to the money.

 Although the jury believed Wong was authorised to take the $248 million in loans from CA Pacific, it convicted him of falsifying the loan agreement.

 He and his wife, Elizabeth Kong Suk-yee, were convicted of false accounting between November and December 1997, and face a maximum jail term of 10 years.

 The loan agreement was between CA Pacific Finance and China Star Consultants, an offshore company set up to purchase the building on behalf of CA Pacific. It granted a total of $373 million in loans to China Star.

 Wong and his wife were both granted bail over the weekend. Mr Justice Gareth Lugar-Mawson will sentence them on Monday.

 The couple must report to Wan Chai police station today and tomorrow in the early evening.

 The verdict brings to a climax a tense three months for the defendants, and a gruelling two-day wait for the jury's decision.

 Both remained composed as the verdict was read out to the Court of First Instance, but some family members were clearly distraught - Wong's mother in particular.

 The case was packed with family drama. Wong's elder brother and then chairman of Capital Asia, Alex Wong Ching-ping, had been the one to inform police of the alleged loan irregularities.

 He went to the Commercial Crime Bureau at the end of January 1998. Wong and Kong were arrested a week later.

 Alex Wong was among several clan members to take the witness stand in the trial. Jason Wong's mother Edna, father Martin and younger brother James all testified.

 All had been involved with running CA Pacific at some point, although Jason was known as 'the boss' by staff, despite being employed at the time on a consultancy basis.

 The verdicts come two years after CA Pacific collapsed under the strain of $423 million in loans. Along with the $248 million, a further $171 million in margin loans became doubtful in early 1998, and CA Pacific sank into a liquidity crisis.

 The collapse led to emotive protests by investors, and prompted a court battle which effectively pitted clients against each other in a bid to recoup their shares.

 Provisional liquidators have been forced to trace 8,000 clients' claims of missing shares as a result of a judge's ruling.



Wong guilty of false accounting