Integrity Focus
Recent ICAC Cases
Feb 2024Director of furniture company charged by ICAC for bribing bank employee for maintaining account
A director of a furniture company was charged by the ICAC yesterday (February 5) for allegedly offering a bribe of RMB5,000 to an employee of a bank for not terminating the corporate accounts of the company.
Fu Jianguo, 41, sole director-cum-shareholder of Haofeng Furniture Group Co., Limited (Haofeng Furniture), faces one count of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. He was released on ICAC bail, pending his appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (February 7) for plea.
Haofeng Furniture was registered in Hong Kong and the defendant was the sole authorised signatory of its five corporate accounts held with DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (DBS Bank). After conducting a review in December 2020, DBS Bank informed Haofeng Furniture in writing that its accounts would be terminated by the end of March 2021 and requested it to withdraw the balances in the accounts.
It is alleged that on or about March 10, 2021, the defendant offered a bribe of RMB5,000 to a centre manager of DBS Bank for maintaining Haofeng Furniture’s bank accounts.
The centre manager turned down the defendant’s request and DBS Bank eventually terminated the accounts of Haofeng Furniture.
The defendant was arrested when he visited Hong Kong in late August 2023, and was charged yesterday upon ICAC’s receipt of legal advice from the Department of Justice recently.
DBS Bank has rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the cases.
The ICAC reminds business operators not to bribe bank staff in exchange for its services. The ICAC has recently launched the “Corruption Prevention Guide for Banks” to enhance the corruption prevention capabilities of banks and assist banks in reducing corruption risks in core operations, including management of bank accounts. To promote probity culture in the banking sector, an Ethics Promotion Programme for the Banking Industry was also launched to help managerial and other ranks of bank staff understand common corruption loopholes.