A company director and three senior banking executives were jailed for up to three years yesterday for their roles in manipulating the shares of a listed company.
Li Man-tak, 37, a former director of textile manufacturer Kwong Hing International Holdings, was sentenced to three years on two corruption charges.
Li was found guilty last month of paying $3.4 million in bribes to a fund manager, a stock research analyst and two investment bankers between July 2003 and February last year to help him push up the share price of Kwong Hing, in which his family held a 45 per cent stake. He had denied all charges.
Li paid the fund manager $800,000 as reward for buying and holding the shares of Kwong Hing - behaviour the District Court Judge Fergal Sweeney described as insider dealings.
Li also paid a highly regarded stock research analyst $1 million to arrange for a European investment bank to issue a favourable stock report on his company.
Judge Sweeney noted that Li's stock manipulation scheme was aimed at 'snowballing' the share price of Kwong Hing by attracting institutional investors.
He also observed that Li's efforts to ramp up the shares would not only have enabled Kwong Hing to obtain funds for expansion but also enhance the Li-family fortune.