Integrity Focus

The ICAC had earlier charged 11 people, including the operator of a small house developer, a village representative and small house applicants, for allegedly conspiring to deceive the Lands Department into granting various building licenses for a small house estate development project in Yuen Long by transferring the “Ding Rights” concerned. Two of the small house applicants today (November 8) admitted their roles in the scam at the Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Courts.

Small house applicants Choi Wai-sang, 63, and Jimmy Tang Kiu-chin, 74, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to the Common Law. Acting Principal Magistrate Mr Daniel Tang Siu-hung adjourned the case to November 29 for sentence, pending the duo’s background reports, and remanded them in the custody of the Correctional Services Department.

Under the New Territories Small House Policy, every male indigenous inhabitant of the New Territories aged 18 or above may exercise his “Ding Right” once and apply to the Lands Department for building a small house within a recognised village of the New Territories for his own occupation. A “Ding Right” is not transferrable.

Choi and Tang admitted that between February and June 2006, they each made an application to the Lands Department for building a small house in Shui Tsiu San Tsuen in Yuen Long for their own occupation. The duo claimed to the department that they were respectively the sole legal and registered owner of the lots of land concerned; and that they had never entered into any agreements with others to transfer or otherwise deal with their lots of land or relevant interests; and that they had no intention to sell their “Ding Rights” to other individuals or developers.

Believing that the information stated in the applications was genuine, the Lands Department granted the duo building licenses.

The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that since November 1991, a number of individuals, including Choi and Tang, had applied for building small houses in Shui Tsiu San Tsuen. The small houses were subsequently sold to members of the public by a developer under the name of a private estate and each small house was sold at market price ranging from $9 to $13 million. The developer concerned received over $1,000 million for the sale of 115 small houses in the private estate.

ICAC enquiries also revealed that since the 1990s, an indigenous inhabitant representative and other middlemen started the development of the estate project in Shui Tsiu San Tsuen by purchasing “Ding Rights” from indigenous inhabitants of Yuen Long. Choi and Tang had conspired with the middlemen to sell their “Ding Rights” at $100,000 each, totalling $200,000.

Later in about March 2005, a developer entered into an agreement with the indigenous inhabitant representative and appointed the latter as its trustee to jointly develop the small house project. The indigenous inhabitant representative and the middlemen then continued to purchase more “Ding Rights” from indigenous inhabitants and arranged for them to apply for building licences to build small houses in Shui Tsiu San Tsuen.

The Lands Department offered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the cases. The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Astor Yu.

Meanwhile, other individuals allegedly involved in the same scam, namely Edward Wong Kwong-wing, 75, operator of Wing Smart Construction Limited, and Ching Chan-ming, 67, indigenous inhabitant representative of Shui Tsiu San Tsuen, were earlier jointly charged by the ICAC in a separate case with one count of conspiracy to defraud. They pleaded not guilty to the charge in December 2023. The case is set for trial at the District Court on February 10, 2025.

The remaining seven small house applicants charged by the ICAC in separate cases are Wong Kwun-sing, Chan Chi-ming, Chan Wing-kin, Leung Kam-yick, Lung Fok-ye, Yeung Kai-kwong and Lok Tin-lung, aged between 43 and 74. They did not enter plea when they appeared at the Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Courts today. The case of Wong Kwun-sing and Chan Chi-ming was adjourned to December 6 for mention, while the case of the remaining five defendants was adjourned to January 17 next year for plea.