Two men held over phony bonds

Updated at 6.16pm: Two men were arrested for using US$490 million worth of forged treasury bonds after an undercover operation in Central, the police revealed on Wednesday afternoon.

Officers of the Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) mounted an operation yesterday after receiving a call from a bank staff member who was suspicious after speaking to an Australian man who claimed to be an international fund manager about some US treasury bonds.

On April 23, the Australian man phoned a local commercial bank in Central saying that he intended to open a bank account using US treasury bonds worth US$50 billion.

'He claimed that the bonds, which were issued in the 1930s and had been lost in an aircraft accident during World War II, were reclaimed by a church in the US,' a police spokesman said.

The man then visited the bank and arranged another meeting for Tuesday.

When the Australian man, aged 77, together with his assistant, a 58-year-old British man, turned up for the meeting at about 5pm, police arrested them.

'The duo showed part of the purported US treasury bonds in the amount of US$150 million and suggested they would discount the bonds to the bank at a rate of 60 per cent,' the spokesman explained.

He added: 'Suspecting the bonds were forged, officers of the CCB arrested the suspects at the scene.'

A subsequent search in the Tsim Sha Tsui hotel where the pair were staying turned up a laptop computer, other suspected forged US treasury bonds in the amount of US$340 million and other related documents.

The two, arrested for using false instruments, are being detained for questioning.