A family convicted on fraud charges has been jailed by the Court of First Instance.

A 69-year-old man was jailed for six years, while his 67-year-old wife and their 46-year-old son were each sentenced to seven-and-a-half years. They were also disqualified from being company directors for eight years.

The court heard a company went into liquidation in October 1998 but the liquidator found it had been involved in a series of suspected fraudulent transactions and called Police.

Investigations found the couple were the proprietors of a trading company while they and their son were the directors of a steel pipe company.

The liquidated company applied to 22 banks between September 1993 and July 1998 for 157 letters of credit amounting to $2.9 billion in favour of the two companies owned by the three defendants. However, no goods were ever sold as specified in the invoice.

After the letters were negotiated, the fund was remitted back to the liquidated company's bank accounts 10 days later after a deduction of $2.7 million as commission money.

The trio were subsequently arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud.