Integrity Focus

An insurance agent and two others, who were charged by the ICAC after a corruption investigation revealed their roles in a $37.5 million critical illness insurance compensation scam in which cancer patients were posed as policyholders to undergo medical examinations at clinical institutions to obtain medical certificates, today (February 28) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud at the High Court.

Wong Ka-keung, 45, former insurance agent of AIA International Limited (AIA); Lo Chun-kit, 45, driver; and Leung Wai-kin, 42, renovation worker, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law. Wong further admitted four similar offences and three counts of forgery, contrary to Section 71 of the Crimes Ordinance.

Madam Justice Anna Lai Yuen-kee adjourned the case to Friday (March 1) for sentence. Wong and Leung were remanded in the custody of the Correctional Services Department while Lo was granted bail.

The court heard that since mid-December 2017, Wong and Lo had been discussing how to make false insurance claims for Lo. They agreed that Lo would take out a high coverage critical illness policy while the premium would be paid by Wong. Lo subsequently took out two insurance policies from AIA through Wong.

Wong and Lo then recruited Leung, who was a lymphoma patient, through middlemen to pose as Lo to attend medical examinations at various clinical institutions. After obtaining the required medical certificates confirming that Lo was diagnosed with cancer, critical illness and medical expenses claims were made to AIA, resulting in payments totalling over $9.8 million.

Upon receiving the compensations, Lo passed about $7 million to Wong. Apart from enjoying 37 sessions of free medical examinations or treatments, Leung received $32,000 from Wong.

ICAC investigation also revealed that Wong deployed similar fraudulent means to arrange other patients diagnosed with throat, breast, stomach and ovarian cancer to pose as him and two other policyholders to undergo examinations at various clinical institutions, so as to facilitate Wong and the two policyholders to file critical illness and medical expenses claims with AIA in relation to eight insurance policies handled by Wong for compensations totalling about $24.7 million.

Wong also made three false certificates of sickness with the intention that one of the cancer patients could use them to apply for a two-year sick leave with her employer.

AIA had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation.

The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Audrey Parwani, assisted by ICAC officers Jeff Chow and Romeo Chu.

The ICAC had earlier charged one of the policyholders Liao Xiaoyi and her younger sister Liao Xiaoling in separate cases. Liao Xiaoling was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts last October after pleading guilty to two counts of incitement to commit forgery. Liao Xiaoyi, who faced two counts of conspiracy to defraud, will appear at the District Court for mention next Monday (March 4).

The ICAC reminds insurance intermediaries to uphold integrity while members of public and policyholders should not take part in any insurance-related corrupt and illegal activities. The ICAC collaborated with the insurance industry to compile the “Corruption Prevention Guide for Insurance Companies” which assisted insurance companies in building and strengthening their corruption prevention capabilities in key operational areas such as claims verification. The ICAC will continue to collaborate with the industry in providing integrity training to insurance intermediaries. Information is available at the “Ethics Promotion Website for the Insurance Industry” produced by the Hong Kong Business Ethics Development Centre.