Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)

Hong Kong charges alleged mastermind who sparked city’s largest financial probe in decades for conspiracy to defraud Convoy

Roy Cho Kwai-chee, the alleged mastermind in Hong Kong’s largest financial investigation in decades, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud Convoy Global Holdings by the city’s anti-corruption investigator

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Roy Cho Kwai-chee, 55, former director of Convoy Global Holdings Limited (CGHL), formerly named as Convoy Financial Holdings Limited (CFHL), arrives at the Eastern Court in Sai Wan Ho on 15 May 2019. Photo: SCMP / Sam Tsang

Published: 1:42pm, 16 May 2019Updated: 10:14am, 17 May 2019

Roy Cho Kwai-chee, the alleged mastermind in Hong Kong’s largest financial investigation in decades, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud Convoy Global Holdings by the city’s anti-corruption investigator.

Cho allegedly conspired to defraud Convoy and its affiliates, leading Hong Kong’s largest independent financial advisory firm to invest more than HK$89 million (US$11.3 million) in a company related to him, according to statements by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

The charge is the culmination of a joint investigation since December 2017 by the two regulators in a HK$715 million (US$91 million) legal battle surrounding Hong Kong’s biggest financial scandal in decades.

The joint force’s first mission led to the arrest of four former executives of Convoy and its network companies, dubbed the Enigma Network by Hong Kong’s activist shareholder David Webb as a list of 50 stocks to avoid.

The ‘@Convoy’ building, which houses the headquarters of Convoy Global Holdings in Hong Kong. Photo: Bloomberg

Today’s action is part of Hong Kong’s carrot-and-stick approach to clean up misconduct and reforms to attract global investors to Asia’s second-largest financial market. The SFC has stepped up its enforcement, imposing a record US$100 million fine on four major global banks – UBS, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered – for failing in their duty as the financial sponsors of initial public offerings (IPOs) between 2009 and 2014.