A 17-year old girl who obtained money from 'rich uncles' to take part in a multimillion-dollar insider trading scam was exploited by others, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.
Debbie Ng Kit-ying was among 11 people found guilty in 2007 of insider dealing in the shares of Vanda Systems & Communications Holdings a decade ago. Her lawyer Bernard Mak said the teenager obtained cash from two boyfriends to trade more than HK$5 million worth of shares of Vanda Systems. Mak yesterday appealed her conviction by arguing her young age led her to being 'used and exploited' by others.
Justice Anthony Rogers, hearing the case with two other judges in the High Court, questioned that argument. 'A 17-year girl received multimillion dollars from two boyfriends to trade shares. Can you say that she was exploited?' the judge said.
Vanda's share price rose 39 per cent after a 2000 deal was announced with a unit of Hutchison Whampoa.
The 11 were convicted by the Insider Dealing Tribunal and ordered to pay a combined HK$27 million in penalties, inquiry costs and profits. That was the largest number of insider dealers convicted in a single case.
Ten out of the 11 have since appealed the ruling. Appellants include Vanda's co-founder Lam Hon-nam, Vanda general manager Ernest Choy Ming-yan and Sammy Tse Kwok-fai, the chief executive of Hutchison E-Commerce.