Hong Kong Charges Consul, Former Lawmaker Over Listing Fraud

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s anti-graft body leveled charges at a former lawmaker and his son, who is the registered Consul of Papua New Guinea, as well as a third person for concealing a backdoor stock exchange listing and laundering HK$42 million ($5.4 million). 

Chim Pui-chung, 75, and his 52-year-old son, Ricky Chim Kim-lun, jointly face two counts of conspiracy to defraud, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a statement on Friday. A third person faces one count of dealing with property known or reasonably believed to be the proceeds of a crime.

Hong Kong’s stock exchange and regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, have spent years trying to stamp out backdoor listings and market manipulation that has often caused massive share price moves in thinly traded stocks. Just this month, the SFC imposed conditions on a firm ahead of its initial public offering in a rare high profile move, with the company later delaying its listing.

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Ricky Chim is named as the consul for Papua New Guinea on the government’s website. Calls and emails to the PNG consulate weren’t returned and Bloomberg News was unable to confirm he still held the role. Chim Pui-chung was a major shareholder in Asia Resources Holdings Ltd., where his son was chairman. Asia Resources didn’t respond to requests for comment.

ICAC alleged that starting in 2013, when Ricky Chim was chairman, the family conspired with others to defraud Asia Resources, its board and shareholders by hiding that a third party agreed to pay them about HK$210 million to control as much as 75% of its stock. 

The elder Chim represented local stockbrokers in the city’s Legislative Council under the British colonial rule and after the 1997 handover to China. Ricky Chim unsuccessfully ran for his father’s seat twice.

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The defendants were released on bail, and will appear before the Shatin Magistrates’ Courts for mention on Friday, pending a transfer of the case to District Court for pleas, ICAC said. 

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