A local businesswoman was arrested on Tuesday for giving her friend a HK$6 million “rubber cheque” for a debt repayment, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a press conference yesterday.
The 52-year-old suspect is surnamed Chan, while the victim from Hong Kong had been a friend since 2006.
According to Lou, the victim reported to the Judiciary Police in June this year that a cheque her friend had given her had bounced. The victim told the police that in 2015 the suspect, Chan, spoke to her about a “business” that required their husbands to invest HK$8 million each, after which Chan claimed that her husband did not have the money and borrowed a HK$10 million interest-free loan from the victim for the “business” investment and other purposes, Lou said. The “business” never happened.
Lou said that the suspect promised to pay the victim back in March 2016. However, the victim only received HK$4 million in March and Chan kept making excuses as to why she couldn’t repay the rest afterwards. After numerous demands for the outstanding debt to be repaid, Chan gave a HK$6 million cheque post-dated to June 6, 2022 in September last year, Lou said. The cheque bounced due to insufficient funds in the account when she tried to cash it in June.
Chan was called to the police station for questioning earlier this month. Lou said that the suspect admitted to never having enough money to clear the cheque. She has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge – issuance of a cheque without sufficient funds, according to Lou.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai looks on during yesterday’s press conference at the PJ headquarters. – Photo: William Chan
