Integrity Focus

A merchant, charged by the ICAC, was today (August 1) sentenced at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts to two weeks’ imprisonment after admitting that he had offered a bribe of $2,000 to a bank employee for expediting the process of opening personal bank account.

Bian Weilong, 39, merchant, today pleaded guilty to one count of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to section 9(2)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. Principal Magistrate Mr Don So Man-lung imposed a jail term of two weeks and a fine of $10,000 on Bian.

The court heard that at the material time, Bian was a merchant operating duty-free shops in Southeast Asia. In early May 2023, Bian visited a branch of China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited (CCB (Asia)) in Central for opening a personal account. He was received by Law Tsz-hin, a then sales executive of the branch.

Bian was later told by Law that due to a large number of account opening applications, it was estimated that the account opening process would take about a month. The next day after his visit to the branch of CCB (Asia), Bian offered a bribe of $2,000 to Law for expediting the account opening process at the bank.

The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint in relation to opening bank accounts. Enquiries revealed that Bian’s bank account was opened shortly after he had paid the bribe to Law.

Law Tsz-hin, 31, the then branch sales executive of CCB (Asia), was also earlier charged by the ICAC for his role in the scam. In May this year, Law was sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment after pleading guilty at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts to four bribery charges for soliciting and accepting bribes totalling $13,000 for expediting the process of opening personal bank accounts for six clients, including Bian.

CCB (Asia) had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.

The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Kiki Chu.

The ICAC reminds the general public not to bribe bank staff in exchange for its services. Should anyone comes across any suspicion of corruption, he or she should report to the ICAC immediately. The ICAC has recently launched the “Corruption Prevention Guide for Banks” to enhance the corruption prevention capabilities of banks and assist banks in managing corruption risks in core operations including account opening and referral of client. 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.