HKSAR v. Lee Chun Lung

DCCC 404/2013

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 404 OF 2013

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to two offences of conspiracy to make false instruments, contrary to sections 71, 159A and 159C of the Crimes Ordinance, Cap 200. You admitted the Brief Facts and I convicted you.

2.The Brief Facts were as follows.  This is a scheme to defraud various banks by making and using false Hong Kong ID cards and false payroll slips of Creation Map PTY Limited, to apply for personal loans.

3.On 17 January of last year, there were four fraudulent loan applications, supported by:

(i) False ID card in the name of PW1;

(ii) False payroll slips of Creation Map PTY Limited, alleging PW1 to be employed as product manager with a monthly income of $26,500; and

(iii) A bank statement in PW1’s name on a Citibank account.

4.The four applications were approved and loans drawn from the relevant banks as follows: Citibank, $104,000; China Construction Bank, $159,000; DBS, $200,000; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, $200,000; that is a total of $663,000.

5.In February 2012 there were another three fraudulent applications supported by the following documents:

(i) A false ID card in the name of PW2;

(ii) False payroll slips of Creation Map PTY Limited, alleging that PW2 was employed as the creation director with a monthly net income of $27,500, that is a total salary of $28,500 including Mandatory Provident Fund; also

(iii?) Bank statement in the name of PW2 on a Citibank account which is the second account.

6.The three applications were rejected by the respective banks: China Construction Bank (Asia) Limited, $250,000 on 7 February; Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, 8 February, $250,000; Citibank (Hong Kong) Limited, 8 February, $100,000.  That is a total of $600,000.

7.PW1 was informed by Citibank of the first loan which he had not applied for.  After liaison with Citibank and the police, the second to the seventh loans were disclosed.

8.PW1 and PW2 confirmed that they had made no loan applications.

9.The Hong Kong ID cards for all seven applications were forged.  The particulars of PW1 and PW2 were correct except for the photographs.  The forged ID card of PW1 displayed an unknown male and that of PW2 displayed your photograph.  The loan applications were supported by false payroll slips and false bank statements.

10.Neither PW1 nor PW2 ever worked for Creation Map PTY Limited nor had opened the said bank accounts.

11.On 19 October of 2011, you established Creation Map PTY Limited and was its director.  On 25 October 2011, you opened a Hang Seng Bank account in the company’s name with yourself as the sole signatory. On 15 November you as the representative of Creation May rented a working desk from a secretarial company in Wan Chai for 12 months.  The secretarial company kept a copy of your Hong Kong ID card for record.

12.On 4 January 2012, you opened a bank account in Citibank, that is Account 2, by using the forged Hong Kong ID card in the name of PW2, affixed with your photograph.

13.On 5 January 2012, the first account was opened using the forged ID card in the name of PW1.

14.On 17 and 19 January 2012, you arranged auto salary transfer so that monthly payment in the sum of $25,500 and $27,500 were transferred from Account 3 to Accounts 1 and 2 respectively.

15.On 11 July 2012, you were arrested.  Under caution, you admitted the following:

(i) In October 2011 you were acquainted with a male called Ah Hung;

(ii) You provided your photograph for Ah Hung to make a false ID card;

(iii) You and Ah Hung conspired together to set up a company and make false payroll slips and records in order to deceive banks to grant loans;

(iv) Ah Hung took you to an office in Central to sign documents which were used to establish the company, Creation May PTY Limited;

(v) Ah Hung brought you to the Hang Seng Bank to open a bank account in the name of Creation Map PTY Limited;

(vi) In January 2012, you opened the forged ID, affixed with your photograph, to open a bank account in Citibank, that is Account 2;

(vii) You handed over the bank book and ATM card to Ah Hung. The account was then managed by Ah Hung;

(viii) On one occasion you attempted to apply for loan in DBS (Hong Kong) Limited by using false instruments, but this application was refused;

(ix) You received $3,000 from Ah Hung as reward for establishing a company and opening bank account.

16.You conspired with Ah Hung to make false instruments, namely the false ID cards and payroll slips, and to use the said instruments to apply for loans from various banks.

17.You admitted 12 previous convictions, none of which was similar but nine involved dishonesty.  In fact, you are presently serving a sentence of imprisonment for violence.  Your earliest date of release is 1 October of this year.

18.Mr Lee for the prosecution placed before me the sentencing authority of HKSAR v Wong Ka Wah and others - that is a Court of Appeal decision - Criminal Appeal No 260/2006 and 261/2006.  The case involved strikingly similar offences to the ones with which I am dealing.  Basically, the Court of Appeal found that 30 months’ imprisonment as the starting point was on the low side of such offences. 

19.Mr Yiu entered mitigation on your behalf.  I am very much obliged to him that he presented it in written form.  That is extremely helpful.

20.A précis of what he told me is as follows.  You are 24 years of age.  You reside with your mother and brother.  You are married to a mainland lady and habitually spend your weekends in Shenzhen.  When in work you do pay towards the support of your family.

21.You were born on the mainland coming to Hong Kong in 1998.  Your father died in 2000 and you had to be brought up by your mother. You were lacking parental supervision and you mixed with delinquent persons of dubious character.  You were educated only to Form 3.  Thereafter, you worked in very menial jobs, usually on a casual basis.

22.From an early age, unfortunately, you had a fairly lavish lifestyle enjoying drinking, eating and wasting money in video game centres.  You kept the company, as I said, of dubious persons and were often short of money.

23.You have a long and serious criminal record. You have been in and out of institutions such as training centre and prisons throughout your life.  You accept that you have a hot temper which you find difficult to control and it seems that when in work you find it difficult to relate to your workmates.  

24.You met Ah Hung, the other party in this offence, in October 2011 and he offered you the chance of easy money.  Being tempted, you succumbed to that temptation.  You said that it was Ah Hung who was the prime mover and the planner.

25.Mr Yiu, however, does not seek to trivialize your culpability although he does maintain that you were merely an accessory and in your favour points out that you were frank with the police and had been co-operative by your plea of guilty from an early opportunity.  He asks for leniency saying you now intend to try and put the past behind you and turn over a new leaf.  He asks me to consider a concurrent sentence. 

26.I turn to the sentences.  These are serious offences.  You are a young man with an appalling criminal record of dishonesty and violence.  You obviously accomplished little or nothing in your life.  The only mitigation I can find in this case is your plea of guilty and your co-operation with the authorities.  I do note the sentencing authority provided.  I also apply the principle of totality especially given your relative youth. 

27.In each case I take a starting point of 3 years’ imprisonment, reduced to 2.  They are part and parcel of one course of conduct, they will be served concurrently, but it would be consecutive to your existing sentence.  So to put it very simply, you are sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment on these offences which will commence on or about 1 October of this year.