companies, two of them Bermudian, proves that you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

Hong Konger Lai Ka-chuen, 39, successfully fleeced one of Bermuda's lesser-known insurance companies, Top Glory Insurance (Bermuda) Ltd., out of HK $2.46 million (US$ 312,000), keeping the secret even from his "widow'' Yiu Yuan-tang. But Mr. Lai could not fool another, better-known Bermuda insurer, American International Assurance (Bermuda) Ltd., who unmasked the fraud.

On Monday, Mr. Lai was jailed for three years.

The imperfect crime began when Mr. Lai took out three policies on his life during a seven-month period before he "died'' in a traffic accident on July 9, 1996, in the mainland city of Luoyang, in Henan province, prosecutor Edmond Lee told the District Court of Hong Kong. Two policies were with the Bermuda insurers, the third with Blue Cross (Asia Pacific) Insurance Ltd.

Forged death certificates, police records and notary deeds were produced, stating that Lai had died in an accident. The documents were then used to try to cash in the policies.

Ms Yiu sent Top Glory a medical certificate from the PLA No 150 Centre Hospital in Luoyang City, confirmation of Mr. Lai's death from Jingyuan police station and a notary deed from the Luoyang city notaries' office. Top Glory Insurance responded by paying HK $2.46 million to Mr. Lai's "widow''.

The prosecution said Mr. Lai had bribed the secretary of medical services, Wong Wing-kwan, at the PLA hospital, to sign the fake death certificate and send it to Ms Yiu, who was conned into believing he was dead.

Fraud exposed No mention was made of what Mr. Lai planned to do with the money claimed by his wife.

Mr. Lai had also taken out a US $330,000 (HK $2.6 million) death policy with American International Assurance (Bermuda) Ltd. But his plan came unstuck when the firm uncovered the false claim. Blue Cross also refused to pay.

Lai was arrested in December 1996, but he jumped bail. He was re-arrested on August 13 this year. On Monday, he pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud, one count of obtaining property by deception and one count of attempting to obtain property by deception.

Jailing Mr. Lai, Deputy Judge David Duggan said the scheme had required elaborate planning.

After Mr. Lai's arrest on December 23, 1996, at the Lowu checkpoint he insisted the plot was not his idea but was dreamed up by Lai King-fung, a Top Glory agent, the court heard.

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