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Jail looms for jewelry chain founder, son
The founder of the Tse Sui Luen jewelry chain
and his son were remanded in custody after they were convicted of bribery,
falsifying accounts and tax fraud yesterday.
Former TSL chairman and consultant Tse Sui- luen, 70, and his son Tommy
Tse Tat-fung, 39, were among five senior executives charged by the
Independent Commission Against Corruption on 18 counts.
District Court judge Kevin Browne gave the verdict in a trial that
lasted 99 days and heard testimonies from more than 70 witnesses.
The defendants looked at ease, except for director Chung Yuen-ling, 45,
even after knowing they were found guilty, with Tommy Tse seen chatting
with deputy chairman Peter Gerardus Van Weerdenburg, 48.
Tse senior was convicted on one count of conspiracy to offer advantages
to agents, one count of conspiracy to false accounting and one count of
conspiracy to steal.
His son was convicted on two counts of conspiracy to offer advantages
to agents, two counts of conspiracy to falsify accounts, one count of
conspiracy to defraud and three counts of conspiracy to steal.
Business promotions manager Wong Ting- fong, 50, was found not guilty
on one count of fraud.
In the bribery scheme, called the "James Bond Project," Tse
Sui-luen conspired with others to offer kickbacks of more than HK$100
million to local and foreign travel agencies to bring tour groups to shop
at the company's showrooms between 1996 and 2005.
The defendants set up offshore shell companies to transfer money to the
agencies.
Those companies then offered kickbacks to travel agencies and helped
them hide their earnings from the Inland Revenue Department.
The two Tses also stole about HK$3 million from funds targeted to be
paid to employees as bonuses.
In 2000 after Tse Sui-luen went bankrupt, Chung suggested the company
pay Wong HK$100,000 more each month. Wong then gave Tse Sui-luen about
HK$500,000 over the course of five months.
Tommy Tse set up a shell company in 2002 to pay for services the shell
company was to provide to TSL. The services were never provided and
HK$880,000 was stolen. He also stole HK$1.9 million of bonus funds
intended for a senior executive, who has since left the company.
The ICAC began investigations in 1996 and pressed charges against the
five defendants 10 years later.
Tse Shui-lun, who founded the jewelry chain store when he was 35, has
led a dramatic life - born into a poor family in 1936, he and his family
left the mainland and settled in Hong Kong.
He started as a goldsmith when still young and, at 21, borrowed
HK$3,000 to start his own workshop. TSL Jewelry was founded in 1971. 2008-04-26 |
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