Hong Kong businessman lied to stock exchange over US oil field deal, court hears

Businessman Lew Mon-hung teamed up with the chairman of a listed firm and two others to lie to the stock exchange in an US oil field investment project which they asked to raise US$225 million from the public, a court heard on Monday.

Lew, 65, Kitty Yip Sui-kuen, 45, and Yik Siu-hung, 45, are charged with two joint counts of conspiracy to defraud the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and potential investors from December 2009 to May 2011. They allegedly conspired with Pearl Oriental chairman Wong Kwan, who is not a defendant in this trial.

The trio also face a total of five money-laundering charges for dealing with the money and shares resulting from the fundraising. They deny all the charges.

Opening the case in the Court of First Instance, prosecutor Keith Oderberg told the jury that before Pearl Oriental sought to buy the oil field in January 2010, the land switched owners from one company to another, both of which Wong and Yik had an interest in.

But Wong and Lew, then deputy chairman of Pearl Oriental, falsely told the stock exchange the seller was an independent third party with no connection with Pearl Oriental, it heard.

"It was a carefully planned and managed situation," Oderberg said, adding, “they lied to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Limited.”