The ex-chief financial officer and one of the former executive directors of Convoy Financial have been jointly charged by the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Lai-Yee Chan and Byron (Ye-Kai) Tan have been charged with conspiring to defraud the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Convoy, the firm’s board of directors and its shareholders.
Convoy has been at the centre of an on-going saga, which saw the ICAC raid eight locations connected with the company in December 2017 and arrest four senior executives on suspicion of corruption.
Opaque deal
In the latest twist, the ICAC found that Chan and Tan were in discussions with Kwai-Chee Cho, also a former executive director of Convoy, to acquire an investment company.
While Cho was a minor shareholder of Convoy, he held 55% of the investment firm, called True Surplus International Investment, which was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
According to the ICAC, the acquisition cost Convoy HK$89m (£9.14m, $11.4m, €10.16m).
Conflict of interest
The commission states that the conspiracy to defraud happened between April 2016 and December 2017.
It said that Chan, Tan and Cho concealed or failed to disclose that:
- Cho was a substantial shareholder of True Surplus,
- The acquisition was a connected transaction, and;
- It caused Convoy to acquire the investment firm without complying with the stock exchange rules.
Cho disappeared following the December 2017 ICAC raids, but he appeared before the court on 16 May 2019 and was charged with conspiracy to defraud.
He and 27 other former employees have also been sued by Convoy for stealing HK$4bn.
Cho and the other defendants will appear in court on 24 July.
