Serious Fraud Office v Huang

The defendant, Kang Huang, pleaded guilty to nine charges of obtaining credit by deception under the Crimes Act 1961 and one charge of corruptly giving a bank agent consideration as an inducement for approving a loan application under the Secret Commissions Act 1910. The charges related to Huang's involvement in obtaining loans from financial institutions using false information over a period of about three years and ten months between the calendar years 2011 and 2015. The court had to determine an appropriate sentence for Huang's offending, taking into account the seriousness of the offences, the level of culpability, and any mitigating factors.

The court considered the significant scale of the offending, the sophistication of the scheme, and the involvement of a bank employee in processing the fraudulent loan applications. The court also took into account Huang's guilty pleas, his cooperation with the investigation, and his previous good character. After applying the relevant mitigating factors, the court determined a starting point of six years imprisonment. However, due to the involvement of the bank employee, the court increased the starting point to six years and nine months imprisonment.

In the end, the court imposed a sentence of four years and seven months imprisonment, to be served concurrently. The court also imposed a minimum term of 50 per cent on the charges laid under the Crimes Act, requiring Huang to serve two years and three months before being eligible to apply for parole. The court noted that the overall effect of the offending went far beyond the financial loss suffered by any individual financial institution, and that the ripple effects of such offending could have significant repercussions within the commercial community.