According to a report on Bloomberg, the judge dealing with the case said the defendant, Cheung Kwai-kwai, was honest and some of the witnesses for the prosecution unreliable.
The case relates to the sale of equity-linked notes, know widely as minibonds, to retail investors. It is believed that about 43,000 investors in Hong Kong bought an estimated $1.8bn of the Lehman Brothers minibonds prior to the bank’s collapse in 2008.
The Hong Kong unit of Bank of China, for which Cheung worked, was the biggest seller of the notes and was among 16 institutions that agreed to buy them back for at least 60 cents on the dollar in a settlement brokered by regulators.
BOC Hong Kong spokeswoman Angel Yip said last month Cheung is still employed by the bank. Another employee charged for the same offence, Tai Ching, is scheduled to be tried next month.
