Police sergeant among six charged by ICAC as graft probe reveals $3m commissions fraud

The ICAC charged six individuals on Monday (October 6) after a corruption investigation revealed that a Police Sergeant, together with an insurance agent, had recruited his family members, friends and Police colleagues to pose as dummy insurance agents and policyholders to take out 20 bogus insurance policies using false information to deceive two insurers into releasing payments of commissions, bonuses and allowances totalling about $3 million.

Lam Hin-ho, 36, Police Sergeant; faces 21 charges – 20 counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance; and one count of conspiracy to make false instruments, contrary to sections 71 and 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.

The five co-defendants, aged between 29 and 45, each faces one count to 12 counts of the charges. Three of them, who posed as dummy downline insurance agents, are Lam Chun-pong and Yu Xiaodan, respectively the elder brother and sister-in-law of Lam Hin-ho; and Lau Chun-yee (formerly known as Lau Man-yee), friend of Lam Hin-ho. The remaining duo, namely Osbert Hui Yee, solicitor; and Sze Hong-chak, Police Constable, posed as dummy policyholders in the present case.

All defendants were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (October 9) for mention. The prosecution will later apply for transferring the case to the District Court for plea.

The ICAC investigation stemmed from corruption allegations implicating certain police officers. At the material time, Lam Hin-ho was a Police Sergeant. He came to know an individual who had served as middle manager in Sun Life Hong Kong Limited (Sun Life HK) and China Taiping Life Insurance (Hong Kong) Company Limited (Taiping Life HK). But Lam Hin-ho was not an insurance agent eligible to sell any insurance product.

The ICAC investigation revealed that Lam Hin-ho and the middle manager had allegedly recruited certain individuals, including Lam Hin-ho’s family members, friends and Police colleagues, to pose as dummy downline insurance agents and dummy policyholders to take out 20 insurance policies with Sun Life HK and Taiping Life HK and pay for the premiums.

After underwriting the insurance policies, Sun Life HK and Taiping Life HK had respectively released payments, including commissions, bonuses and allowances, totalling about $1 million and about $2 million to the insurance agents concerned. In addition, Lam Hin-ho and the middle manager had allegedly arranged Lau to join Taiping Life HK for taking part in the scam by using false academic qualifications documents.

The 20 fraud charges allege that between December 2016 and June 2024, Lam Hin-ho, together with the five co-defendants, the middle manager and other dummy downline agents and policyholders, made false representations to Sun Life HK and Taiping Life HK on different occasions, and with intent to defraud, induced the two insurers to underwrite the 20 insurance policies in the present case and release to the agents concerned payments, including relevant commissions, bonuses and allowances.

It is alleged that they had falsely represented to Sun Life HK and Taiping Life HK that the insurance policy applications concerned were genuine; the relevant premiums or contributions were settled by the policyholders; and the dummy insurance agents had personally interviewed the applicants. The relevant premiums were paid by the defendants and their associates.

The remaining charge alleges that between January and May 2021, Lam Hin-ho and Lau had conspired together with the middle manager and other persons to make false instruments, including academic proofs, with the intention to induce Taiping Life HK to accept them as genuine.

The Police, Sun Life HK and Taiping Life HK rendered assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.