SOTHEBY'S has admitted paying out more than a quarter of a million pounds in compensation to clients after a specialist in its jade department confessed to stealing items sent to the auction house's Hong Kong saleroom. The theft of the objects by Philip Wong - mainly jewellery and jade - was not reported to police and Mr Wong has not been charged with any crime. Mr Wong was said to have arranged "private viewings" for fictitious buyers and then sold the objects himself for a fraction of their true value. When the time came for the objects to be legitimately sold at auction he told his bosses at Sotheby's that the items had been returned to their original owners. Although a "serious piece of jewellery" went missing in September 1997, it was not until some months later that the matter was discovered as Mr Wong had tampered with the records to make it look as if the piece had been given back to the client, and at the same time had told the client that the piece was being sold privately. Mr Wong used the money to sustain a luxurious way of life that included a BMW car, gold watches and a designer wardrobe. Diana Brooks, President of Sotheby's, described Mr Wong as a "young, attractive, enthusiastic, smart man". He was in his early twenties when he was first taken on by the company and had little experience of the auction world. But in just five years he rose through the ranks to become one of the leading experts in the jewellery department. Mrs Brooks said last week: "We were told in the middle of 1998 that . . . there were problems in terms of missing jewellery. We were in contact with consigners who thought certain things were happening with their jewellery and they wanted to know what was going on. As our management there delved into it it became clear that there had been some thefts. And it was clear to us they were thefts inside the firm." A full investigation was overseen by Sotheby's compliance department in conjunction with Alice Lam, then the co-chairman of Sotheby's Asia, and Yarman Vaccha, the finance director of Sotheby's Hong Kong. Mrs Brooks said: "What became clear . . . is that Philip was responsible . . . that the procedures we had in place were not as stringent as they should have been . . . that certain procedures that should have taken place didn't and we obviously at that point reinforced those procedures." She defended the decision not to involve the authorities. "If we had informed the police what was that going to do for us? We knew exactly where these things were and that the stones had been recovered." Instead notices were posted in Hong Kong newspapers distancing the company from their errant employee - the normal "protocol" in Hong Kong. However Mrs Brooks hinted that some of the jewellery which had been sold by Mr Wong could not be traced. In addition, stones may have been removed from some pieces of jewellery and sold separately. Mr Wong was dismissed by the company in July 1998. Mr Vaccha left six months later. "I can tell you he felt horribly about the whole situation," said Mrs Brooks. Last summer Mrs Lam also left, but only, said Mrs Brooks, because the former Sotheby's Asia chairman wanted to pursue her interests in Chinese painting and her philanthropic activities.
Since the thefts security has been tightened up. Mrs Brooks said: "In the last two years we have overhauled all our security in jewellery because it is the area that it is easiest to pick something up." Mrs Brooks said that she had been "devastated" by Mr Wong's behaviour. "He had grown up in the company," she said. "I think unfortunately he had a lifestyle which he wanted that required considerably more than he was earning at Sotheby's.
"In retrospect maybe a month or two earlier we should have suspected something because he seemed to be living a bit higher than he should have been." But she did not rule out a similar incident happening in the future. "We have an extraordinary record of honesty and integrity in this firm," she said. "But once in a while this kind of thing happens."
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