Man sentenced for mortgage fraud
*******************************


     A 40-year-old man was today (April 2) convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in the District Court in relation to a mortgage fraud case.

     The court heard that in June 2006, the defendant approached a 50-year-old man, who is a business partner of him, and offered a residential flat worth $10 million as the collateral for increasing the credit line for his company. Since the flat had never been mortgaged, the victim agreed to increase the credit line of defendant's company from $1 million to $5 million. The defendant then submitted forged title deeds and succeeded in making a mortgage agreement with the victim.

     However, the defendant exhausted his credit limit within three months and no repayment has ever been made to the victim.

     The case came to light in January 2007 when the genuine flat owner intended to apply for a mortgage loan but found that the flat involved had already been mortgaged.

     The defendant was arrested in June 2007 and was later charged with one count of fraud, one count of using false instrument and one count of theft. He was convicted today.

Police Report No. ขณ
Issued by PPRB

Ends/Wednesday, April 2, 2008
NNNN