Forgot your password?
Please enter your email & we will send your password to you:
My Account:
A Hong Kong businesswoman who had hid from the law for seven years after being charged in 2015 with conspiracy to bribe a bank official to accept a EUR 500 million standby letter of credit as collateral received an 11-month prison sentence in November 2023 after admitting to the charge and one other.
HUANG Wei, director of Tianhe International Commerce (China) Holdings Ltd, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to offer an advantage to an agent, a violation of section 9(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance, and also a charge of failing to surrender to custody without reasonable cause, contrary to section 9L(1) of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance, according to Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
As explained by the ICAC in a 13 November 2023 press release, Huang and her Tianhe co-director, PAN Shancheng, were both authorised signatories of the company’s bank account held with HSBC in April 2015 when the two discussed a company loan matter with a vice president in HSBC’s Commercial Banking Department. Huang and Pan said Tianhe would receive a EUR 500 million standby LC and asked HSBC to accept it as collateral for granting a credit facility to their company.
Huang and Pan failed to provide required documents for the bank’s assessment, however. In May 2015, they then met twice with the HSBC employee and requested their assistance “in causing the bank to accept the standby L/C for Tianhe, adding that they would offer a monthly payment of HK$10,000 in return”, according to the ICAC press release. The HSBC employee declined the offer.
Huang and Pan were arrested by the ICAC and charged on November 2015 with conspiracy to offer bribes. They pleaded not guilty to the charge and a pre-trial review was scheduled for 8 January 2016. Both Huang and Pan failed to appear before the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts and warrants for their arrests were issued. According to the ICAC press release, Huang was arrested by ICAC officers upon arriving in Hong Kong in June 2023 after absconding for over seven years. No mention was made as regards the status of Pan. Responding to a DCW inquiry, an ICAC spokesperson said in a 26 March 2024 email that ICAC has nothing to add.
(Source: HK ICAC)