Assistant who stole HK$47m from ex-Portsmouth FC owner jailed for 6½ years
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 04 February, 2015, 1:11pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 05 February, 2015, 5:04am
Julie Chu [email protected]
Balram Chainri started an electronics business in Hong Kong more than 30 years ago. Photo: Oliver Tsang
A former personal assistant to Balram Chainrai was jailed for 6½ years yesterday for stealing more than HK$47 million from the ex-owner of English soccer club Portsmouth.
Tong Sze-kiu, 41, admitted in the Court of First Instance to 12 counts of theft and four counts of fraud between 2001 and 2010. The court was told during her trial that she was depressed and found shopping eased her pain.
Tong Sze-kiu stole from Chainri over a nine-year=period. Photo: Edward Wong
Mr Justice Albert Wong Sung-hau said that although Tong suffered from depression at a "medium to serious level … the court could not be too merciful [to this kind of offender]. Otherwise, it would send the wrong message to the public".
Wong said Tong's crimes were serious as they took place over a long period and she had breached her employer's trust. However, he considered that she had tried very hard to repay her former boss and had reduced his loss to HK$14 million.
He accepted the long investigation into her crimes had a great effect on her "especially when she has stepped on the rehabilitation path".
The court heard the Nepali businessman started an electronics firm in Hong Kong in 1984. Tong started working for Chainrai's company in 1995.
In April 2010, Chainrai found that his credit cards had an overdrawn transaction. Tong confessed to using his cards for her personal expenses over the years.
Tong not only used the money to shop, but also treated friends to expensive hotels and paid her taxes and cable television fees. She used Chainrai's securities accounts to make transactions and pocketed the profit.
Tong claimed she was depressed over her poor relationship with her first husband. She lost her self-confidence and spent a lot on weight loss plans and beauty treatments that caused her to go into debt.
Her former husband agreed to a divorce when she agreed to support him in 2008. Tong had two sons with her current husband and she had bought property for him, the court heard.
Although Tong was arrested in November 2010, she was only charged last year due to the complicated investigation.
