THE Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has expressed ''amazement'' at the lenient treatment of three relatives who ran a lorry racket.
The trio, who used the false papers to inflate the prices by up to $90,000 for second-hand goods vehicles imported from Japan, escaped jail terms yesterday in the District Court.
Brothers Chow Chai-sang, 41, and Chow Lung-sang, 39, and their brother-in-law Kwan Wing-kwan, 44, were found guilty of conspiracy to utter forged documents after a two-month trial. They had denied the charge.
But Judge Lugar-Mawson said he would spare them the maximum three-year jail sentence and instead fined them $206,000 each and ordered them to pay $50,000 each towards prosecution costs.
''The real penalty is having been found out and convicted. You have lost your good reputation,'' he said.
Sources at the ICAC, which brought the case before the court, last night expressed ''amazement'' at the ''lenient'' sentence.