A $223.9 million credit scam involving a property investor was devised to get the Hong Kong Monetary Authority off the back of the bank involved, rather than to defraud the bank, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.
The court was told that the alleged scam involving Chin Kam-chiu and several staff of the Sin Hau Bank, now part of the Bank of China, was meant to ease the HKMA's concerns about the size of the bank's loan exposure to Chin's company.
Chin, 46, also known as Chun Kam-chiu, is a former chairman of the Keen Lloyd Group. He is appealing against his conviction for conspiring to defraud Sin Hau Bank between November 1998 and April 1999. Chin was jailed for 61/2 years by Justice Pang Kin-kee in April last year after he was found guilty by a jury.
He and four other co-conspirators were said to have made false applications with the bank to obtain 25 letters of credit totaling $223.9 million for Chin's companies to finance purported purchases of goods from companies controlled by Chin's Keen Lloyd Group.
Martin Wilson, QC, for Chin said the trial judge had erred by not informing the jury of the possibility that the HKMA was the target of the scam. The judge had also failed to instruct the jury properly on perceived and actual financial losses as a result of any scam, he said.
Also appealing over their convictions are Tsang Siu-lan, 34, Chow Wai-choi, 44, Hau Pui-yee (alias Hau Pui-ming), 53, and Ma Kin-fai, 45.
