Long arm of the law stretches far and wide
International efforts and professionalism displayed by four detectives from Commercial Crime Bureau have netted suspects involved in four complicated commercial fraud cases.
Four Hong Kong men who absconded to overseas countries with tens of millions of dollars obtained through fraud and bogus transactions over the past several years have been brought to justice.
The long arm of the law finally caught up with them after several years of painstaking efforts by Woman Detective Senior Inspectors Connie Yau Sin-man and Claudia Lam Ka-pik, and Detective Senior Inspectors Kong Man-keung and Paul Lai Kwok-wing.
Their persistence and meticulous paperwork coupled with excellent working relationships with overseas law enforcement agencies were the key factors in bringing the four men back to Hong Kong to stand trial. The criminals are now serving jail terms ranging from two years to more than four years.
In an interview with OffBeat, the four young officers were unanimous in considering that their sacrifice and long hours put into compiling "bundles" of legal documents for the extradition process were worth the effort.
Ms Yau started investigating a major case of letter of credit fraud after four local banks reported being swindled in a number of bogus transactions involving the purchase of potteries in 1996 worth $50 million. Following the collection of the amount through letters of credit, the two companies involved shut up shop and the two proprietors fled Hong Kong with the stolen proceeds.
On August 16, 1999, one of the owners was arrested in Auckland, New Zealand and escorted back to Hong Kong for trial on March 10, 2000. He pleaded guilty and was jailed for four years and two months.
Ms Lam's case proved to be more difficult as the suspect, the previous owner of an electronics company, resisted his extradition in the US courthouses.
In the three months from June 1994, the suspect bought computers and accessories worth more than $1.95 million from suppliers with post dated cheques, which bounced when they were presented to the banks. He was tracked down and arrested in Connecticut in the US in November 1995, and was eventually escorted back on January 28 last year to stand trial in Hong Kong. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment on August 24 last year.
Mr Kong's case involved a sharks fin trader who was jailed for four years by a District Court judge on November 17, 2000 after being convicted of six counts of theft he committed in 1993. A trader since 1984, he obtained $6.94 million worth of sharks fin from his six victims in 1993. He pocketed the proceeds after selling the favourite Chinese delicacy to restaurants. He fled to the US in September 1993 but was located and arrested by officers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York on February 1, 2000. Following court proceedings, he was extradited to Hong Kong in August.
Mr Lai successfully brought a business fraud case to an end following the extradition of a man from Quebec, Canada on January 25, this year.
The fraudster, a shareholder and director of a trading company, fraudulently obtained a total of $7.1 million in 1996 by means of letters of credit. His company then shipped eight containers to Spain following an order for electrical appliances from a Spanish company. On arrival, it was found that six of the containers contained bricks and waste paper. Following the scam, he fled to Canada in August 1996, and was tracked down and arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police last November. He pleaded guilty in the District Court and received a three-year jail sentence.
Since 2000, the Commercial Crime Bureau successfully sought the extradition of suspects in seven separate requests involving the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The success proves the importance of close working relationships between different law enforcement jurisdictions and agencies in beating transnational organised crime.
Close working ties between HK and US in beating transnational organised crime