Police on Wednesday said they arrested 18 people last month on suspicion of using fake documents to take out government-guaranteed bank loans totalling HK$193 million under a scheme to support Covid-hit businesses.

Officers accused some of the suspects of exaggerating the number of employees and their salaries, for example, by using information on former workers to open new MPF accounts.

On one occasion, a company with two employees reported that each earned up to HK$250,000 per month, when the firm's monthly revenue was only around HK$10,000, police claimed.

Officers also accused other suspects of setting up shell companies and submitting falsified documents to banks.

Mak Wai-kwong, a senior inspector of the commercial crime bureau, said they suspected some of the loans received were used to buy luxury items or were transferred to personal accounts.