The charges were brought by local City watchdog, the Securities and Futures Commission, which alleged that Universal Insurance Consultants and Brokers (UIC) and its director Ms Au Mei Chun arranged for a third person, an SFC licensee who gave evidence at the trial under immunity, signed subscription documents in a fund for clients pretending to be their licensed representative.
It was alleged that UIC then received commissions from the fund, paying them to the two unlicensed agents who had procured the clients.
However, while the two unlicensed agents were found guilty of unlicensed activity in August last year, on 31 December both Au and UIC were acquitted.
According to a statement released by the SFC, the Magistrate acquitted UIC and Au because she found the third person was not sufficiently clear in her evidence that UIC and Au had asked her to sign the subscription forms on behalf of the clients.
