MPFA warns false early-withdrawal claims risk up to 14 years' jail

The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority has toughened the penalty warning on its enforcement pages for members who make false statements or use false documents to withdraw MPF early. Two pages — the MPF-system enforcement FAQ and the plan-members enforcement-measures page — now state that a person who makes a false or misleading statement or uses a false document may be liable on conviction to imprisonment of up to 14 yearsMpfa. The FAQ page adds that forging or using false documents is a serious criminal offence, and warns members not to let crime syndicates instigate them into false declarations, to beware unsolicited calls and not to disclose personal information to unknown third parties.

The previous wording cited Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance penalties: a maximum fine of $100,000 and one year's imprisonment on first convictionMpfa, rising to $200,000 and two years on subsequent convictions, alongside a vaguer "imprisonment or fine" formulation on the FAQ page. Those MPFSO figures are gone from both pages.Mpfa An Authority release dated 5 June 2020 describes a member sentenced to seven days' imprisonment, suspended for two years, after making a false or misleading statement in a statutory declaration for early withdrawal on the ground of permanent departure; it cites a maximum fine of $100,000 and one year's imprisonment as the MPFSO penalty.

Readers should note what the pages do and do not establish. The pages state a maximum custodial exposure of 14 years without naming the offence provision.Mpfa The same 14-year maximum appears in the Crimes Ordinance for forgery and false-instrument offencesElegislation — making a false instrument, copying one, using one or possessing one with the relevant criminal intent each carry up to 14 years' imprisonment on conviction on indictmentElegislation. The pages themselves do not say the MPFSO penalties have changed.Mpfa The cautious reading is that the Authority is warning that false withdrawal claims can attract prosecution under the general criminal law with its heavier maximum, not that the MPFSO figures were legislatively replaced.

The enforcement context is unchanged. When the eMPF Platform receives a permanent-departure withdrawal request, it checks whether the member has previously been paid on the same ground, and the Authority runs sample checks; a second claim on that ground is not payableMpfa. Permanent departure allows only one lifetime withdrawalMpfa — a member who returns, re-enrols and claims again on the same ground commits an offence. In the five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, over 100 members were convicted of false declarations for permanent-departure withdrawals.

Anyone considering a permanent-departure withdrawal should understand three points: the benefit is payable once onlyMpfa, the eMPF Platform checks prior claims on that ground, and a false statutory declaration or supporting document now carries a published warning of up to 14 years' imprisonmentMpfa. Source: the MPFA enforcement FAQ and enforcement-measures pages for plan members, as modified; background on the previous MPFSO penalty figures from the Authority's 2020 prosecution release and its early-withdrawal leaflet.