HKSAR v. LO YUNG KWONG

DCCC1292/2011

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1292 OF 2011

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.  Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance, Cap.210, Laws of Hong Kong, those are Charges 1 and 2 on the indictment, and one charge of theft, contrary to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance, Cap.210, Laws of Hong Kong, which is Charge 3.

2.  The three charges span a period of some three years or thereabouts between 2006 and early 2009, when you embezzled the sums of RMB¥3,081,883.22 and $200,000 from Sky Lingerie (International) Limited and RMB¥1,271,794.75 from Super Rich Moulders Limited, Charges 1 and 2, and stole the sum of RMB¥46,769.29 from Super Rich Moulders Limited, that is Charge 3.

3.  The Summary of Facts which you have agreed speak of you of being a director and shareholder of the two respective companies over the relevant period, directing the funds mentioned in the respective charges into your own personal bank account, when in fact they were required for the operation of your companies’ subsidiaries in the Mainland. 

4.  It was you who was responsible for the operation of these companies and it was you who, under normal circumstances, would transfer the funds to the subsidiaries upon either of the parent companies’ receiving a request from them for funds for their normal operations. 

5.  You are 49 years of age and have a clear criminal record.  You have worked hard with your partner Mr Cheung in setting up these two companies, of which you were the managing director.  You had at that time a good, stable family life, but unfortunately things started to go wrong in 2006 when your first marriage started to fall apart.  You subsequently became divorced and were responsible for paying substantial maintenance for your wife for her benefit and for the children.  

6.  I am told that as a result of this you fell into financial difficulties and started to gamble.  You, as all gamblers do, eventually lost.  You lost a lot.  The amount in the background report speaks of up to $7 million.  The only way out you could see was to embezzle money from the companies, which you did, to the tune of well over $4 million, resulting in your conviction on these charges.   

7.  Your fall from grace has been quite spectacular and I can tell you that it gives me no pleasure whatsoever to have to sentence you this morning.

8.  In sentencing you, I do take everything into account that has been said on your behalf.  I also have been touched by the many letters of support that have been put forward on your behalf from your present family members and past working colleagues, friends and associates. They all speak highly of you. 

9.  At the end of the day, however, you only have yourself to blame for the position that you find yourself in.  What you did of course was a serious breach of trust in relation to the companies of which you were a director.  This is an aggravating feature which I cannot ignore. 

10.  On Charge 1, I adopt a starting point of 3½ years’ imprisonment.  I will increase this starting point by 6 months to 4 years to take account of the aggravating feature that I have identified.  I will discount that sentence by one-third to take account of your plea of guilty to the charge, coming to 32 months on Charge 1.  I am prepared to give you a further discount of 2 months to reflect the other mitigating features that are present, arriving at 30 months’ imprisonment on Charge 1. 

11.  On Charge 2, my starting point is one of 3 years’ imprisonment.  This will be similarly increased to 3½ years to reflect your breach of trust, but will be discounted by one-third to reflect your plea of guilty, coming to 28 months’ imprisonment.  I will discount this by a further 2 months to reflect those other mitigating features, arriving at a sentence of 26 months’ imprisonment on Charge 2. 

12.  With regard to Charge 3, my starting point is one of 2 years’ imprisonment.  This, once again, will be increased to 2½ years imprisonment but discounted by one-third to reflect your plea, coming to 20 months’ imprisonment.  With the added discount of 2 months, you are sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment on Charge 3.

13.  Due to the question of totality of sentence and to reflect the overall criminality, I order all sentences to run concurrently with each other, coming to an overall sentence of 30 months’ imprisonment.  

14.  In addition, I disqualify you from holding any directorship in any company in Hong Kong for a period of 5 years.