A housewife described as 'small fry' who committed fraud for no financial gain was yesterday jailed for three years.
District Court Judge Li Zong-er said a deterrent sentence was necessary in the case of Cheung King, 32, who pleaded guilty on April 3 to conspiracy to defraud.
Cheung admitted her involvement in a letter of credit fraud involving US$891,000 (HK$6.93 million). The court heard she had been named as one of two directors of Long Spark (HK) Development Ltd since 1997. She had previously worked as a clerk at Join Wing Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of mainland food giant Guangnan.
Lo Sioe-chien, the financial manager of Join Wing Ltd, approached her in July 1998 and asked her to help fabricate a transaction, with Long Spark as the seller and Join Wing, via Guangnan, as the buyer, the court heard. Cheung was told the bogus transaction was to enable Guangnan to obtain a letter of credit from Societe Generale bank. The court earlier heard that the US$891,000 obtained by deceiving the bank was subsequently repaid.
Barrister Eric Kwok, for Cheung, asked the judge to be lenient because 'the defendant has earned herself a conviction, not for her greed, but for her kind-heartedness' in helping a friend.
He said Cheung had made no financial gain from the offence, the money had been repaid and no one had suffered any loss. Judge Li accepted Cheung had played a minor role, describing her as 'small fry' in the fraud, but said the court could not afford to adopt a soft attitude.