Integrity Focus

A former assistant general manager of the advertising department of a newspaper company, earlier charged by the ICAC for soliciting bribes from subordinates, was yesterday (February 6) charged with five additional counts of bribery charges for accepting bribes of about $88,000 from two subordinates upon their receipt of commissions from the company for securing event sponsorships.

Daniel Wu Hang-chi, also known as Wu Che-hang, 43, former assistant general manager of the advertising department of Hong Kong Commercial Daily (HKCD), was charged in March last year with three counts of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) and Section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.

Upon receipt of further legal advice from the Department of Justice, the defendant was yesterday charged with five counts of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to Section 9(1)(a) of the POBO. He was released on bail, pending his appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (February 8) for mention, when the case will be transferred to the District Court.

At that time, Wu was the assistant general manager of the advertising department of HKCD. He was responsible for overseeing the operations of the department, supervising sales representatives, and assisting sales representatives to secure event sponsorships. Sales representatives were entitled to 10 per cent of the sponsorships they secured as commission. Wu would receive bonuses after each event or at the end of the year, subject to the profits made, but he was not entitled to share the commissions of the sales representatives. Meanwhile, HKCD did not allow its staff to solicit or accept any advantage in relation to its business.

The five additional charges alleged that between January 2020 and January 2022, Wu accepted five bribes totalling about $88,000 from two sales representatives for assisting them to obtain sponsorships for the events.

The three charges earlier laid against Wu alleged that he conspired together with one of the sales representatives to solicit three bribes totalling about $35,000 from two other sales representatives for assisting the latter to obtain event sponsorships. The requests were eventually turned down.

At the material time, the four sales representatives secured various sponsorships totalling over $3.5 million for four events.

Co-defendants Lee Kwok-wai and Ngo Kam-fai, both former sales representatives of HKCD, earlier pleaded guilty to a total of six charges – five of offering an advantage to an agent and one of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage. Their case was adjourned to March 6 for mention.

HKCD has rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.