A Kwun Tong Provisional District Board member was accused yesterday in court of deceiving 12 hawkers by issuing $1 million in dud cheques.
Li Ting-kit, 47, allegedly offered the dishonoured cheques as repayment of deposits to hawkers after making a failed bid for leasing rights to stall areas at Kwong Tin Estate, Lam Tin.
He denied 12 charges of evasion of liability by deception between October 1996 and January 1997.
The prosecution said that in January 1996, hawkers agreed to deposit between $20,000 and $160,000 with Full Faith International Development, of which Li was the managing director.
Li claimed the bidding would be secured through a subsidiary called Yield Home Far East Co and he would refund the money if the bid was unsuccessful, the District Court heard.
In August 1996, the Housing Department confirmed both companies had failed in their bid. When the hawkers demanded a refund of $1,050,000, Li repaid them with cheques which bounced, the court heard.
