TSE SUI-LUEN, founder of the listed Tse Sui Luen Jewelry (TSL) empire, and four others, including his son, were found guilty Thursday of paying illegal rebates to travel agencies for bringing customers to the company's showrooms.

On the 100th day of a marathon District Court hearing, Judge Kevin Browne convicted the five defendants — all members of TSL's top management — on eight charges of conspiracy to which they had pleaded not guilty in August.

The offences included conspiracy to commit false accounting, offer illegal advantage, theft and defrauding the Inland Revenue Department.

Following the convictions, Tse Sui-luen, 70, his son Tommy Tse Tat-fung, 38, finance director Chung Yuen-ling, 45, deputy chairman and chief executive Peter Gerardus Van Weerdenburg, 47 and business promotions general manager Wong Ting-fong, 59, were remanded in custody.

The court heard a scheme codenamed "the James Bond Project" by the culprits had seen TSL offer about 153 million yuan (US$21.88 million) in illegal rebates to travel agents between 1996 and 2005.

The judge found Tommy Tse and Van Weerdenburg guilty of conspiring to defraud the Inland Revenue Department by making false representations during its investigations into TSL's commission payments. The pair had claimed the money was paid for business promotion services provided to TSL by unrelated overseas promoters.

Tse Sui-luen and Tommy Tse were also found to have conspired with others to steal 450,000 yuan and 2.442 million yuan respectively from the company between February and December 2002 for their own use. (SD-Agencies)