Seven people including lawyers and top executives from a leading bank were given jail terms of 12 to 33 months yesterday for conspiring to commit fraud with jailed Shanghai property tycoon Chau Ching-ngai.
District Court Judge Colin Mackintosh imposed the terms after convicting the defendants on two counts of conspiracy to defraud and one of making false statements as company directors in 2002 and 2003.
The charges related to a HK$2.15 billion loan taken out by Chau to finance the takeover by his company, Global Town, of listed company imGO, the prime asset of which was a cash pool of HK$2 billion.
The court heard the defendants worked together to conceal Chau's intention to use imGO's funds to repay the Bank of China loan by injecting his Shanghai properties into the company, which was renamed Shanghai Land Holdings.
Lawyer Fan Cho-man, 41, and Donald Koo Hoi-yan, 53, then of Koo and Partners, who gave legal advice to BOC International, Global Town's financial adviser, were jailed for 33 and 24 months, respectively.
Simon Lai Sau-cheong, 46, partner at Deacons, which provided legal advice to Global Town, was jailed for 30 months.