Integrity Focus

An ICAC investigation, prompted by a corruption complaint, revealed that a then property manager of a property management company had stolen minor works payments of a public housing estate and two Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) estates totalling over $11 million. The property manager was today (March 28) sentenced to 56 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to theft at the District Court.

Lee Ho-yin, 46, then regional manager of Easy Living Consultant Limited (Easy Living), today pleaded guilty to four counts of theft, contrary to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance.

In sentencing, Deputy District Judge Mr Jason Wan Siu-ming remarked that Lee had stolen works payments on over 300 occasions, constituting a serious breach of trust. The serious nature of the offences in the present case warranted an imprisonment of over seven years. Having considered Lee’s guilty plea and other factors, a 56-month jail term was handed down.

The court heard that at the material time, Easy Living provided property management services to a public housing estate, Lower Wong Tai Sin (2) Estate, and two HOS estates in Yau Tong – Ko Cheung Court and Yau Mei Court. Lee was originally a senior property manager of Easy Living posted to Lower Wong Tai Sin (2) Estate. After he was promoted to regional manager in mid-2021, he was also in charge of the services provided to Ko Cheung Court and Yau Mei Court. Among other duties, Lee was responsible for settling payments with the works contractors.

Easy Living operated various bank accounts for settling maintenance works and recurring expenses for the three estates. To withdraw funds less than $60,000 from those bank accounts, joint signatures of two authorised signatories of the company were required. Lee was one of the authorised signatories.

The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint concerning the works payments of the three estates. Enquiries revealed that between May 2019 and May 2022, Lee had stolen sums totalling over $11 million from those bank accounts.

It was also found that during the abovementioned period, Lee had caused Easy Living to issue 319 cheques to settle various minor works payments by fraudulent means. While various contractors were the purported payees of the cheques in the sum ranging from about $1,900 to over $58,000 each, the cheques were eventually deposited into the personal bank accounts of the Lee and his wife.

The Housing Department and Easy Living rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.

The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Douglas Lau, assisted by ICAC officer Anthony Chan.

The ICAC attaches great importance to the integrity standard of the property management sector. In view of the present case, the ICAC has reviewed the relevant payment approving process and works monitoring mechanism and provided corresponding preventive measures to the Housing Department in order to mitigate the corruption risks. To further enhance the corruption prevention capabilities of the sector, the Commission has launched the Corruption Prevention Guide for Property Management Companies to assist property management companies in strengthening their internal control measures for managing corruption risks, including financial and account management. The ICAC regularly organises continuing professional development courses and developed self-learning training materials for practitioners. Additionally, it disseminates anti-corruption information to property management companies through the “Integrity Property Management League”, adopting a multifaceted strategy to enhance the industry’s integrity level.