A mainlander faces an abuse of trust charge involving four million yuan (4.48 million patacas), Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Wai Lok said during a special press conference yesterday.
Ho identified the victim as a middle-age mainlander. The male suspect is a 36-year-old man, surnamed Sun, who told police that he is in charge of a car company in the mainland.
According to Ho, the case began in October 2023 when the victim planned to transfer three cars, with a total value of approximately HK$7 million, from the US to the Chinese mainland. Through a friend’s introduction, the male victim met Sun. Sun claimed he could assist in transporting the vehicles from the US via Hong Kong and Macau to the mainland and also handle the application for a dual licence plate to allow the cars to be driven in both the mainland and Macau. He demanded 4 million yuan from the victim for shipping fees, customs duties, and licence plate processing, promising to complete the procedures within four months.
Ho pointed out during the press conference that, as instructed by Sun, the victim transferred a total of 4 million yuan in multiple instalments between December 2023 and February 2024 to a designated mainland bank account provided by Sun. Sun later claimed that two of the vehicles had already arrived in Macau, while the third was undergoing customs procedures in Hong Kong. He provided photos of two cars bearing Macau licence plates and asked the victim to wait patiently for the whole process to be completed.
However, when the victim personally travelled to Macau on June 19, 2024, to check on the progress, he discovered that no legal procedures had actually been completed for the vehicles. The Macau licence plates turned out to belong to other cars.
According to Ho, under persistent questioning by the victim, Sun eventually admitted to misappropriating most of the funds and being unable to cover the remaining fees. Afterwards, the victim reported the case to the Judiciary Police.
PJ investigations revealed that Sun had only paid 300,000 patacas to a Macau car dealership for vehicle transportation but failed to follow up on subsequent procedures. The Judiciary Police then seized two of the three vehicles as evidence, while the third car remained in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sun was intercepted while entering Macau at the Barrier Gate checkpoint. During the investigation, he refused to cooperate with the police.
Sun was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing an abuse of trust charge involving a large amount of money, officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas.
Evidence – two car keys and a phone – is displayed before a special press conference at the Judiciary Police headquarters yesterday about an alleged abuse of trust case. – Photo: Armindo Neves
