Three men jailed for using false instrument
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Three men were each sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment for using a false instrument at the District Court yesterday (August 7).

The Court heard that the three defendants, a 61-year-old Mainlander, a 54-year-old Malaysian and a 73-year-old Hong Kong man, went to a bank (1st bank) and produced a cashier order amounting to US$30 million and a confirmation letter purportedly issued by the bank in December 2007. They alleged that they intended to use the documents to apply for a loan from another bank (2nd bank) but was declined because the envelope containing the documents was torn. They requested the 1st bank to reseal the documents with a new envelope and was done by the bank.

On receiving the documents, the 2nd bank doubted their authenticity. The 2nd bank subsequently confirmed that the cashier order and the confirmation letter were forged after verified with the 1st bank. The 1st bank then reported the case to the Police.

Officers of the Commercial Crime Bureau arrested the three defendants when they asked the status of the cashier order with the 2nd bank. The defendants denied knowledge of the documents' falsity and claimed that they were told to deliver the document to the 1st bank by another man who alleged himself as proprietor of a company that was incorporated in June 2006 but carried no actual business in Hong Kong.

The three defendants were subsequently jointly charged with two counts of using a false instrument

They were convicted of all the offences and sentence was handed down yesterday.

Police Report No. 1
Issued by PPRB

End/Friday, August 8, 2008.
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