Three Chinese were indicted on Friday in Federal District
Court in Manhattan on charges that they defrauded the New York
branch of the Bank of China out of more than US$25 million. This
scam is linked to the downfall of the former chairman of the bank,
Chinese media said.
The indictment last week in New York of Zhou Qiang, Liu Ping and
Yang Zhongqi was linked to the fate of former BOC chairman Wang
Xuebing, who used to serve a governor of the New York branch.
Wang, 52, was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Beijing court
last December after being convicted of embezzlement and accepting
bribes. He was once seen as a leading mover in the reform of
China's state-owned banking industry.
According to the New York Times, Zhou, Liu and Yang
were indicted on Friday at the Federal District Court in Manhattan
on charges they defrauded the New York branch of the BOC out of
more than US$25 million from 1991 to 2002.
The paper identified the three by their English names John Chou,
43, and his wife, Sherry Liu, 44, of Alpine, New Jersey, and former
BOC bank manager, Patrick Young, 46, of Massapequa, New York.
According to a China Central Television report, Zhou and Liu
falsified international trading documents in an effort to secure
loans aimed at financing trade transactions that never took place.
The couple bribed Yang, the BOC employee, to participate in the
scam., and and used their proceeds to extend loans to their
businesses and to enrich themselves and their family.
Former BOC chairman Wang was sacked in January 2002 in
connection with credit problems at bank branches under his control
when he headed the BOC.
During the period of the alleged crimes, Wang served as both
general manager of the BOC in New York and later as the president
of the bank.
Almost immediately following his sacking, the BOC was jointly
fined US$20 million by China's central bank, the People's Bank of
China, and by the US Treasury Department for irregularities at the
BOC branch in New York.
The BOC, China's main commercial foreign exchange bank and one
of the big four state-owned commercial banks, is in the process of
transforming itself into a joint-stock company with a public
listing set for some time in 2005.
The indictment charges that from 1991 to 2002, Mr. Chou, Ms. Liu
and Mr. Young schemed to get the Bank of China to pay the
beneficiaries of letters of credit, which were companies that the
couple owned, and to extend other financing for international trade
transactions that never took place, according to a spokesman for
the United States attorney for the Southern District of New
York.
(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2004)