Ex-HSBC Banker Gets 20 Months Prison for Taking Bribe

News:

By Debra Mao
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Former HSBC Holdings Plc executive
Chen Ching-hsiao was sentenced to 20 months in prison by a Hong
Kong court for taking a bribe from a Taiwanese client seeking
credit facilities.
“As a senior manager he damaged the reputation of the bank
but he was willing to face up to his errors,” said Hong Kong
District Court Judge Stanley Chan today. Chen, 46, faced a
maximum sentence of three years.
Chen pleaded guilty on Nov. 13 to charges that he accepted
a $60,000 bribe from the owner of Profit Reach, which made shoes
for New Balance and Timberland, in June 2007 in return for
recommending or approving two credit facilities. HSBC referred
the case to Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against
Corruption, the anti-graft agency said in a statement today.
Chen was a senior vice-president of HSBC’s commercial
banking department in Hong Kong responsible for dealing with
Taiwanese entrepreneurs doing business in China, the ICAC said.
He recommended facilities of over $10 million for Profit
Reach and another sports shoe maker owned by the same
businessmen. The two companies owed HSBC HK$60 million ($7.7
million) in default payments as of Nov. 26.