The Department of Justice has asked the Court of Appeal to review the sentences of four people convicted of conspiracy to defraud in a case involving Convoy Global Holdings Limited. The application was made on 10 November.
The original prison terms ranged from four to seven months. Convoy’s former chief executive received seven months, while its former financial chief was given five months, suspended for 18 months. A former Convoy manager received a four-month term, also suspended for 18 months; the former general manager of Gransing Securities Co., Limited was jailed for five months.
The prosecution argues that the judge gave insufficient weight to aggravating factors, that the sentences should be measured in years and that suspending two was wrong in principle.
The case concerned four bond issues in 2014 and 2015. The prosecution alleged that a Convoy-related company arranged the placements while the transactions were presented as being handled by another securities firm. The defendants were initially convicted after trial, won an appeal, and then had their convictions restored by the Court of Final Appeal last year.
Counsel for Convoy’s former chief executive argued that the bond issues benefited the listed company, the placement commission was reasonable and the method used had uncertain compliance, circumstances that made his client’s culpability relatively low.