The Independent Commission Against Corruption announced today (31st) that it had earlier charged a director of a real estate agency, accusing him of "touching the goods" for resale of a shopping mall and an industrial building property, defrauding a buyer and couple of overpaying about 1,500 yuan. million.
The defendant was convicted in the District Court today of two counts of fraud and sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
The facts of the case allege that the relevant units involved a shop in a shopping mall at Kingswood Villas in Tin Shui Wai and a property in the Jia Ming Factory Building, Castle Peak Road, Kowloon.
District Court Judge Lam Wai-kuen said in sentencing that the defendant's conduct violated the fiduciary duty of the agent, and the court considered the huge amount involved and sentenced the defendant to six and a half years in prison.
The ICAC stated that the defendant was 35-year-old Yi Leqi, who was the sole director of Yingxin Real Estate Agency Co., Ltd. and Yuhui Real Estate Co., Ltd.
At the time of the case, the defendant was a real estate agent who also held shares in Joyful Investments Limited and Heili Ventures Limited.
Buyers of shops in Kingswood Villas shopping mall were bid up to overpay by 9.56 million yuan
The facts of the case allege that the owner of a shop in a shopping mall in Kingswood Villa, Tin Shui Wai, put the shop on sale in early October 2014 at a price of RMB 19 million.
In mid-October, the defendant, acting as a real estate agent, arranged for the original vendor to sign a provisional sale and purchase agreement with Yuxin, of which he held shares, at a price of RMB 19 million.
Joy Xin then resold the shop to a couple of buyers by confirming the resale (commonly known as "touching the goods").
During the transaction, the defendant falsely represented to the buyer and his wife that the seller of the shop, Yuxin, sold the property at a price of 32 million yuan, and concealed his beneficial interest in Yuxin from the buyer and his wife, inducing the other party to finally pay 28.56 million yuan to the property. Yuxin bought the property and paid 9.56 million yuan more than the original asking price.
Kingswood Villas, Tin Shui Wai.
(file picture)
Later, in December 2014, the defendant recommended a property in the Ka Ming Factory Building, Castle Peak Road, Kowloon, to the above-mentioned buyer and his wife, and concealed the original asking price of RMB 26 million for the property during the transaction.
Afterwards, Heili, in which the defendant held shares, purchased the property at a price of RMB 25.92 million, and Yuhui acted as the estate agent for the transaction.
The defendant also induced the wife of the above-mentioned buyer couple to buy the property from Heili for about 31.43 million yuan, resulting in an overpayment of about 5.51 million yuan, and the real estate agent of the transaction was Yingxin.
According to the Estate Agents Ordinance, the defendant, as an estate agent, is required to disclose to the client his beneficial interest in the property and any benefits that may be derived from the disposal of the property.
After receiving a corruption complaint earlier, the ICAC launched an investigation. After completing the investigation, it sought legal advice from the Department of Justice, and charged the defendant in accordance with the relevant legal advice.
The ICAC also emphasized that it has been actively enhancing the knowledge of estate agency practitioners on the anti-corruption laws, and reminded them that they must uphold professional integrity when conducting property transactions to protect the interests of both property buyers and sellers.
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