Hong Kong court slaps jail time on four people over plot to defraud Convoy, in a win for city’s anti-corruption investigator

Convoy’s former executive director Mak Kwong-yiu was jailed for seven months, while former Gransing Securities general manager Lee Yick-ming was sentenced to five months in prison, the ICAC said

Former financial controller Christine Chan Lai-yee was sentenced to five months in prison while former manager Wong Shuk-on received a four-month jail term, both getting an 18-month deferment, ICAC said

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The "@Convoy" building, which houses the headquarters of Convoy Global Holdings in Hong Kong on December 11, 2017. Photo: Bloomberg.

Published: 5:00pm, 16 Oct 2021Updated: 10:55pm, 16 Oct 2021

Three former executives of Convoy Financial Service Holdings and a local broker were sentenced to up to seven months in prison, as Hong Kong wrapped up its four-year investigation into the city’s biggest financial malfeasance in decades.

Convoy’s former executive director Mak Kwong-yiu was jailed for seven months, while former Gransing Securities general manager Lee Yick-ming was sentenced to five months in prison, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a statement on Saturday. Mak, 47, was also banned from holding any corporate directorship for three years, the ICAC said.

Convoy’s former financial controller Christine Chan Lai-yee was sentenced to five months in prison while former manager Wong Shuk-on received a four-month jail term, both getting an 18-month deferment in serving their sentences, ICAC said.

The sentencing of the four accused, after being found guilty by the District Court last month of conspiring to cheat Convoy of HK$51 million (US$6.8 million) in commissions from four bonds sold between 2014 and 2015, is the epilogue of the biggest financial fraud case in Asia’s financial hub in decades. Convoy is the centrepiece of the so-called Enigma Network, a group of up to 50 companies hidden by layers of cross holdings and opaque corporate structures that regulators claim have conspired to entrap minority investors.

Convoy’s former financial controller Christine Chan Lai-yee was sentenced to five months in prison with an 18-month deferment at the District Court in Wan Chai on 16 October 2021. Photo: Dickson Lee

The ICAC and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) commenced a joint investigation in December 2017 into alleged fraud at Convoy, cracking down on malfeasance to restore investors’ confidence in corporate governance in Asia’s financial hub.

The city’s Hang Seng Index stock benchmark is among the world’s worst-performing major equity markets this year, as Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on everything from e-commerce to ride-hailing triggers an exodus of capitals.