Integrity Focus

A mortgage loan applicant, charged by the ICAC, was today (June 29) sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment after admitting at the District Court that she had deceived two financial institutions into granting her two mortgage loans totalling $5.7 million by fraudulent means. The offences were revealed in the course of a corruption investigation by the Commission.

Cheung Pui-shan, 47, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to the Common Law.

In sentencing, Deputy Judge Ms Ada Yim Shun-yee remarked that offences involved in this case were serious in nature. The defendant obtained loans by fraudulent means, warranting a deterrent sentence.

The court heard that in 2011, the defendant acquired a property. In December 2014, she pledged the property and took out a mortgage loan of about $3.3 million (loan 1) from Wing Fung Credit Limited (WFL), a financial institution.

Between December 2014 and April 2015, she further applied for two second mortgage loans in respect of the property with two other financial institutions through a loan agent. In order to apply for the two second mortgage loans, the defendant, under the arrangement and assistance of the loan agent, submitted to Universal Prestige Finance Company (UPL) a copy of the falsified agreement on loan 1 so as to falsely show that the amount of loan 1 was $1.24 million. She subsequently used the same means to make a false representation to KP Financial Services Limited (KPL) that the amount of loan 1 was $800,000.

In the belief that the documents submitted by the defendant were true and accurate, UPL and KPL respectively granted her second mortgage loans of $2.4 million and $3.3 million.

The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. It was revealed that at the material time, the market value of the above property was around $4.3 million to $5.4 million. Had UPL and KPL known the mortgage loan agreements provided by the defendant were false, they would not have granted her the second mortgage loans concerned as the accumulated mortgage amount exceeded the market value of the property at that time.

Enquiries also revealed that upon receipt of second mortgage loans from UPL and KPL, the defendant passed about $590,000 as “tea money” to the loan agent.

UPL, KPL and WFL had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.

The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Steven Liu, assisted by ICAC officer May Lam.