Former civil aviation chief Albert Lam Kwong-yu was convicted of insider trading yesterday and handed a suspended jail sentence at Eastern Court.
Lam (pictured), the 66-year-old former Civil Aviation Department director, was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for two years. He was also fined HK$50,000 and ordered to pay half the investigation cost sought by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), totalling HK$107,131.
Lam was convicted of using insider knowledge of a deal involving Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (Haeco), where he sat as non-executive director, in buying shares at the firm.
The SFC said he netted more than HK$79,000 in profit. Lam alleged he was intoxicated when he purchased the shares online.
Lam was described by Deputy Magistrate John Glass as 'not frank or reliable' and selective in giving his defence. He said Lam's offence had hurt public confidence in Hong Kong as a financial hub.
'It is always sad for a man of your status to fall hard from grace for a fairly small sum of money,' Glass said. 'It was a single transaction, the amount involved was relatively small and had brought no impact as it had been declared by the authority, and you have destroyed your reputation.'
The court said Lam used price-sensitive information he obtained as an officer at Haeco, and acquired 4,000 Haeco shares on June 4, 2010, shortly before trading closed at 4pm.
