Integrity Focus

A then foreman and a then casual cleaning worker of a contractor of a public housing estate, charged by the ICAC, were today (December 14) respectively sentenced to seven months and five months in jail at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts for conspiracy to defraud the contractor of wages totalling about $280,000 by falsifying the attendance records of cleaning workers. The offences were revealed in the course of a corruption investigation by the ICAC.

Zhuang Ruiqing, 49, former foreman of Swan Hygiene services Limited (Swan Hygiene) was sentenced to a jail term of seven months; while Huang Kairong, 51, former casual cleaning worker of Swan Hygiene, was jailed for five months. The defendants were earlier each found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law.

In sentencing, Deputy Magistrate Ms Rachel Po Hi-hau said Zhuang was the instigator of the scam, while Huang’s offences involved a long period of time and a considerable amount of money, warranting deterrent sentences.

At the material time, Swan Hygiene was the cleaning contractor of Lai Tak Tsuen, a public housing estate in Tai Hang. It was required to provide a foreman and 15 day-shift cleaning workers to work at the estate every day. Apart from full-time cleaning worker, Swan Hygiene also engaged Winngo Cleaning Services Limited (Winngo Cleaning) as a recruitment agency to hire casual cleaning workers to work at the estate. Swan Hygiene relied on the attendance information provided by Winngo Cleaning to calculate the wages of casual cleaning workers.

As a foreman of Swan Hygiene, Zhuang was responsible for supervising cleaning workers at the estate, reporting the attendance information to Winngo Cleaning and distributing wages to casual cleaning workers in cash for Winngo Cleaning.

The court heard that between March 2019 and September 2021, Zhuang separately referred Huang and another woman to work as casual cleaning workers at Lai Tak Tsuen. Upon the instruction of Zhuang, Huang and the woman respectively reported that they had worked at the estate for over 560 days and about 40 days. Believing that the attendance details provided by Winngo Cleaning was accurate, Swan Hygiene paid a total of about $280,000 to Winngo Cleaning as the wages of the duo.

The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Huang was in fact a full-time cleaning worker of a secondary school in Tai Hang at the material time. Around 400 days in the over 560 days Huang purportedly worked at Lai Tak Tsuen overlapped with his working days at the secondary school. Meanwhile, the woman had almost never worked at the estate. The duo only received wages totalling over $120,000 from Zhuang.

Swan Hygiene and Winngo Cleaning had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.

The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Kenny Chan, assisted by ICAC officer Bonnie Mak.