A former Monetary Authority and Securities & Futures Commission senior officer has been jailed for housing allowance fraud and tax evasion.

Peter Hsueh, 69, formerly the authority's Information Technology Head and the commission's Chief Information Officer, was sentenced to four months' imprisonment and fined $75,000.

He today admitted to using false documents to deceive the authority, and to wilfully using fraud with intent to evade tax.

In sentencing, Magistrate Ian Candy said a custodial sentence had to be imposed in view of the serious breach of trust.

The court heard that Hsueh had used two Applications for Housing & Holiday Allowances Forms containing false statements on April 13, 1998 and May 3, 1999 to mislead the authority.

Hsueh falsely said in the applications that the rented accommodation for which he was claiming the housing allowance was not owned by him and/or his relative directly or indirectly, and that his claim represented a genuine rental transaction at market rates.

Accommodation held by shelf company

ICAC investigations revealed that the accommodation was in fact held by a shelf company controlled by Hsueh.

As a result of the fraud, housing allowances of $660,000 and $495,000 were granted to Hsueh for the financial years 1997/98 and 1998/99 respectively.

While at the commission, Hsueh used a tenancy arrangement between himself and the shelf company on November 16, 2000, with intent to evade salaries tax for the 1999/2000 assessment year.

Under the tenancy arrangement, rental amounts grossly in excess of the true market value were paid to the company.

The amount of his chargeable income for salaries tax was subsequently reduced, and the tax evaded for the year of assessment 1999/2000 amounted to $60,560.

The court heard that after $38,327 was paid by the shelf company, the net amount of tax evaded by Hsueh for the year of assessment 1999/2000 totalled $22,233.