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The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) reminds members of Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) schemes and Occupational Retirement Schemes (ORSO schemes) that it is an offence to make a false statement when applying for early withdrawal of MPF benefits or minimum MPF benefits (MMBs)¹ on the ground of permanent departure from Hong Kong, and that doing so may result in imprisonment or a fine.
 
In May 2016, an ORSO scheme member was convicted under the Crimes Ordinance for making a false statement in a document given to his ORSO trustee to apply for early withdrawal of his MMBs. He was subsequently sentenced to 80 hours of community service.
 
In his application to his ORSO trustee in September 2013 for early withdrawal of MMBs on the ground of permanent departure from Hong Kong, the member declared that he had never made any such previous claim. However, according to the MPFA’s records, the member had withdrawn his MPF benefits on the same ground in 2005. The MPFA therefore referred the case to the police for further investigation. He was subsequently prosecuted.
 
In 2014-2015, two similar cases involving ORSO scheme members were referred to the police for investigation. The two individuals were subsequently convicted and sentenced to community service and a suspended jail sentence respectively.
 
In 2014-15, 69 MPF scheme members were convicted of breaching the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance by making false statements and were fined an average of $4,500. One scheme member was sentenced to 21 days’ imprisonment in April 2014.
 
MPF or ORSO scheme members who apply for early withdrawal of their MPF or MMBs on the ground of permanent departure from Hong Kong have to make a statutory declaration that they have not been previously paid any MPF benefits or MMBs on the same ground.
 
Scheme members should read through the statutory declaration form and fully understand the contents and the related warnings in it before making a declaration. Anyone who makes a false statement commits an offence. Members who knowingly or recklessly provide false information in their application are liable to prosecution, and their application will be rejected.
 
The MPFA has been taking enforcement action against members who made false claims in their application for withdrawal of MPF benefits or MMBs on the ground of permanent departure from Hong Kong. In September 2014 the MPFA also introduced a new version of the relevant statutory declaration forms, which carry prominent warnings to remind scheme members that it is a criminal offence to make a false statement when applying for early withdrawal of MPF benefits or MMBs and that anyone convicted may be imprisoned or fined.
 
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