Ex-Portsmouth FC owner Balram Chainrai the target of HK$47m theft by assistant
Former personal assistant admitted using credit cards to run up bills for beauty treatments and expensive brand-name goods.
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 29 January, 2015, 11:53pm
UPDATED : Friday, 30 January, 2015, 2:23am
Julie Chu [email protected]
Balu Chainrai, former owner of English soccer club Portsmouth. Photo: Oliver Tsang
Balram Chainrai's former personal assistant on Thursday admitted using his credit cards to run up bills of HK$47 million for beauty treatments and other expensive brand-name goods.
Tong Sze-kiu, 41, pleaded guilty in the Court of First Instance to 12 counts of theft and four counts of fraud between 2001 and 2010, all targeting the former owner of English soccer club Portsmouth.
She also admitted using Chainrai's personal details to apply for two credit cards and deceiving him into signing cheques or forging his signature.
Tong's lawyer, Patrick Cheung, said his client had depression. She had been unhappy in her first marriage, which came to an end in 2008.
He said she spent millions of dollars on beauty and weight-loss treatments as well as buying expensive brand-name goods, to get some short-term release.
"Tong committed the crime out of her illness rather than greed. It is very different from normal commercial crime," Cheung said.
Besides, he said, the victim of this case was a very wealthy man and the amount was not a large sum for him.
Chainrai started an electronics business in Hong Kong in 1984 and was named one of the richest Nepalese in the world. He is also the younger brother of Bina Chainrai, the principal magistrate at Eastern Court.
Prosecutor Anthony Chau Tin-hang said Tong worked in Chainrai's company in 1995 where her duties included dealing with Chainrai's personal expenses.
In April 2010, Chainrai found that his credit cards had an overdrawn transaction. Tong confessed that she had used his credit cards for her personal expenses over the years and was arrested in November 2010.
An investigation revealed 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.
The court heard she spent HK$47 million from Chainrai's accounts but repaid some funds. Chainrai's actual loss was about HK$27 million.
Tong's lawyer claimed, however, that Tong repaid more to Chainrai and the actual loss was about HK$14 million.
Senior police inspector Tony Tse Tsz-fung said outside court that Chainrai trusted Tong very much as she had worked for him for many years.
Chainrai felt betrayed, he said, although he felt Tong was remorseful. Deputy Judge Mr Justice Albert Wong Sung-hau adjourned sentencing until February 4.
