A local man was arrested on Tuesday for cheating several investors out of HK$16 million in a large-scale construction project scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 48-year-old suspect surnamed Lei claimed that he is a businessman and a former shareholder of a construction company.
According to Ho, one of the investors, a local man, reported to the Judiciary Police on July 13 last year that Lei had cheated him and several investors out of HK$16 million in 2018 in a construction project investment scam.
The victim told the police that he met Lei in June 2017 because both are working in the construction sector. Lei claimed that his company was preparing a large-scale construction project near Canal dos Patos in Ilha Verde district, purportedly involving an investment of 100 million yuan. Upon completion, Lei claimed that the project would earn a 16 percent return on investment (ROI).
Ho said Lei also claimed that the project required an initial investment of 50 million, and the payment of the balance would depend on the progress of the project. Lei said a full refund would be made in case the project failed. Lei also persuaded the victim to assist in finding investors and claimed that he would pay him two-percent commission as an intermediary fee.
According to Ho, Lei showed the victim bogus documents of the project in order to gain the victim’s confidence. The victim assisted Lei in finding several investors and signed a number of documents. Ho said the victim and the investors paid a total of HK$20 million to Lei between January and November in 2018. Lei later repeatedly delayed paying the commission to the victim, claiming that the government had not yet approved the project
Ho said the victim discovered that the construction project was started in June 2019 but the contractor was not Lei’s construction company. The victim then asked for a refund. Lei paid back HK$4 million to the victim and gave him a post-dated cheque dated June 30, 2020 for HK$16 million. However, the victim found out that the cheque bounced on the due date and he suspected Lei of deliberately having given him a “rubber cheque” and reported the case to the police.
According to Ho, PJ officers discovered that Lei did not only issue the rubber cheque, but that Lei’s company had never tendered for the project, and that the documents presented to the victim were forgeries.
Ho said Lei absconded to the mainland on March 25 last year. The Judiciary Police then notified the mainland Public Security Bureau (PSB) about the case and Lei was arrested by PSB officers in Jiangmen on Tuesday morning. He was transferred to the local police on Tuesday evening for follow-up investigation. Jiangmen lies some 63 kilometres north of Macau.
Ho said Lei admitted to giving the victim a rubber cheque, and using forged documents to cheat the victim. Lei refused to tell the police why he committed the crime and the Judiciary Police believe that it was because Lei’s company was in dire straits, said Ho, who did not reveal how many investors were defrauded by Lei.
Lei was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of issuing a bounced cheque involving a huge amount, document forgery and fraud involving a considerable amount, officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas, according to Ho.
The hooded fraud suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Evidence seized from the suspect such as forged documents and three smartphones is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
