TNAG-1449-FCO40-1953-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 304

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thought appropriate to charge an offence under Section 17.

Although it is also an offence under Section 18 of the

Theft Ordinance to obtain dishonestly an overdraft by

deception, the better view is that the new loan, in my

example, does not fall to be dealt with as an overdraft.

4.

Nor are any of the provisions in the Theft

Ordinance, such as the offence of obtaining services by

deception, procuring the execution of a valuable security

by deception or furnishing false information, thought to

fit the kind of transaction in my example. The best

course therefore is to enact new provisions to make these

and similar activities criminal, as they should be, and the

Theft (Amendment) Bill 1986 is designed to achieve this

object.

5.

Clause 2 of this Bill makes it an offence to

obtain by deception credit from banks or deposit-taking

companies. Clause 3 of the Bill creates a new offence for

a person dishonestly to procure by deception the making

of an entry in the record of a bank or deposit-taking

company.

The two new provisions will bring the fraudulent

activity of obtaining credit by deception clearly within the

ambit of the criminal law.

16.

The