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Aug 2024Merchant charged by ICAC gets two weeks’ jail for bribing bank staff for expediting account openingA 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. 30
Jul 2024Merchant charged by ICAC with bribing bank staff for expediting account openingThe ICAC today (July 30) charged a merchant with allegedly bribing a bank employee for expediting the process of opening his personal bank account.Bian Wei-long, 39, merchant, 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 on Thursday (August 1) for plea.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 a then sales executive of the branch.It is alleged that on the next day after his visit to the aforesaid branch of CCB (Asia), Bian offered a bribe of $2,000 to the then sales executive 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 the sales executive mentioned.Law Tsz-hin, the then sales executive of CCB (Asia), 31, was also earlier charged by the ICAC for his role in the scam. He was earlier sentenced to a jail term of six weeks 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) has rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.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. 23
Jul 2024Ex-manager of FEHD contractor charged by ICAC for extorting $38,000 in wages from cleaning workers by deceitThe ICAC today (July 23) charged a former manager of a cleaning service contractor of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) for allegedly deceiving three subordinate cleaning workers into returning a wage difference totalling over $38,000 in a span of nearly two years, by falsely representing to them that the employer had miscalculated their wages.Choy Wai-hong, 50, former contract manager of Sparkle Environmental Services Limited (Sparkle), faces three counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance. He was released on ICAC bail, pending his appearance at the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday (July 25) for plea.At the material time, the defendant was a contract manager of Sparkle, a cleaning service contractor of the FEHD. He was responsible for supervising the company’s foremen and cleaning workers posted to Sai Kung District, and handling relevant matters of recruitment and employment contracts.The offences took place between August 2020 and July 2022. The defendant, without Sparkle’s authorisation, allegedly made false representations to the three cleaning workers concerned that they were employed and paid as casual workers. It is alleged that subsequently, the defendant falsely represented to the three workers that Sparkle had miscalculated their wages, and with intent to defraud, induced the trio to return part of their wages, totalling over $38,000, to the defendant.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint in relation to workers’ wages. Enquiries revealed that the trio were in fact Sparkle’s full-time employees who were entitled to higher pay rates, but the defendant allegedly made false representations to them that they were employed as casual cleaning workers at a daily wage of either $420 or $450 only. Meanwhile, the defendant had never returned to Sparkle the wages which he defrauded out of the trio.The FEHD and Sparkle rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. 17
Jul 2024Former insurance employees charged by ICAC for $4.25m fraud and $2.3m money laundering involving dummy agents and false policy applicationsThe ICAC today (July 17) charged five former employees of an insurance company in two separate cases for their alleged involvement in a dummy agent scam as well as providing false information in insurance policy applications respectively to defraud the company of a total of $4.25 million in commissions and other payments. Three of the dummy insurance agents were also charged for allegedly handling over $2.3 million in crime proceeds.In the first case, Chau Yui-kwan, 34, former assistant unit manager of China Taiping Life Insurance (Hong Kong) Company Limited (China Taiping), faces 18 counts of fraud, contrary to Section 16A(1) of the Theft Ordinance. Co-defendants, Choi Pui-ka, 32; Chang Kiu-sum, 32; and Sit Siu-hang, 30, all former business managers of China Taiping, each faces one count of dealing with property known or reasonably believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence, contrary to Section 25(1) of the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance. The four defendants were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Friday (July 19) for mention. The case will later be transferred to the District Court for plea.At the material time, Chau was the former assistant unit manager of China Taiping and the upline manager of the three co-defendants as well as another insurance agent. China Taiping required all its agents to explain the terms and conditions of relevant insurance policies to their clients in person when selling an insurance product. The company prohibited its agents from providing any false information about the policyholder and the identity of the handling agent. China Taiping would issue commissions and other payments to the handling agent upon the approval of a policy application and receipt of the premium.The offences took place between February 2021 and October 2022. The 18 fraud charges allege that Chau deceived China Taiping by falsely representing to the latter that Choi, Chang, Sit and another insurance agent were the handling agents of those 18 insurance policies, and causing China Taiping to underwrite and issue the insurance policies and to pay commissions and other payments in relation to them.ICAC enquiries revealed that China Taiping had released a total of about $3.6 million of commissions and other payments to Choi, Chang, Sit and the said insurance agent in relation to the above-mentioned 18 insurance policies. A large proportion of the said payments were eventually received by Chau.Another three charges allege that Choi, Chang and Sit, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that a total of over $2.3million in their three personal bank accounts, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly represented any person’s proceeds of an indictable offence, dealt with the money.In a separate case, Lee Hon-yin, 28, former China Taiping insurance agent, faces two counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A(1) of the Theft Ordinance. Chau faces one count of forgery, contrary to Section 71 of the Crimes Ordinance. The duo were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Friday (July 19) for plea.In July 2021, China Taiping received two insurance policy applications which were purportedly taken out by a client and the insurance policies were sold by Lee. It is alleged that Lee had falsely represented to China Taiping that the applications were genuinely taken out by the client, causing China Taiping to approve the applications and release the commissions and other payments of over $650,000 to him. ICAC enquiries revealed that the client did not apply for the above-mentioned insurance policies, nor did she pay premiums for the policies.Meanwhile, Chau had allegedly forged the signatures of a client and relevant persons on a document for transferring the rights and interests of an insurance policy, inducing China Taiping to believe that the application was submitted by a client.China Taiping has rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the cases. 11
Jul 2024Former apparel manufacturer employee charged by ICAC for using false quotations and receipts to swindle $480,000A former Executive Assistant of an apparel manufacturer was charged by the ICAC today (July 11) for allegedly using false quotations and receipts in relation to repair works of her employer’s properties to swindle approximately $480,000.Rachel Chong Shui-kwan, 32, former Executive Assistant of Sterling and Grant Limited (SGL), faces nine charges of agent using document with intent to deceive her principal, contrary to Section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. She was released on ICAC bail, pending her appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (July 12) for mention.The investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Upon completion of the investigation, the ICAC sought legal advice from the Department of Justice, which advised charges be laid against the defendant. As an Executive Assistant of SLG, the defendant, apart from handling daily administrative work of SGL, was also responsible for handling leasing matters, including renovation and repair works, of two residential units owned by her employer.Before the commencement of each works order, the defendant was required to seek approval from her employer and provide relevant quotation for the latter’s confirmation. After completion of the works, the defendant had to submit the quotation or receipt issued by the responsible contractor to the company for processing payments.Between July 2020 and January 2021, the defendant allegedly submitted false quotations and receipts to SGL on nine occasions, misleading the company that the above documents were issued by a decoration contractor and that the relevant works were completed. As a result, SGL paid a total of around $480,000 to the contractor for settling the works payments.The ICAC enquiries revealed that the abovementioned contractor had never issued the said quotations and receipts. A large proportion of the said payments were eventually deposited into the defendant’s personal bank account.SGL rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
Aug 2024Merchant charged by ICAC gets two weeks’ jail for bribing bank staff for expediting account openingA 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. 30
Jul 2024Merchant charged by ICAC with bribing bank staff for expediting account openingThe ICAC today (July 30) charged a merchant with allegedly bribing a bank employee for expediting the process of opening his personal bank account.Bian Wei-long, 39, merchant, 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 on Thursday (August 1) for plea.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 a then sales executive of the branch.It is alleged that on the next day after his visit to the aforesaid branch of CCB (Asia), Bian offered a bribe of $2,000 to the then sales executive 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 the sales executive mentioned.Law Tsz-hin, the then sales executive of CCB (Asia), 31, was also earlier charged by the ICAC for his role in the scam. He was earlier sentenced to a jail term of six weeks 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) has rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.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. 23
Jul 2024Ex-manager of FEHD contractor charged by ICAC for extorting $38,000 in wages from cleaning workers by deceitThe ICAC today (July 23) charged a former manager of a cleaning service contractor of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) for allegedly deceiving three subordinate cleaning workers into returning a wage difference totalling over $38,000 in a span of nearly two years, by falsely representing to them that the employer had miscalculated their wages.Choy Wai-hong, 50, former contract manager of Sparkle Environmental Services Limited (Sparkle), faces three counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance. He was released on ICAC bail, pending his appearance at the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday (July 25) for plea.At the material time, the defendant was a contract manager of Sparkle, a cleaning service contractor of the FEHD. He was responsible for supervising the company’s foremen and cleaning workers posted to Sai Kung District, and handling relevant matters of recruitment and employment contracts.The offences took place between August 2020 and July 2022. The defendant, without Sparkle’s authorisation, allegedly made false representations to the three cleaning workers concerned that they were employed and paid as casual workers. It is alleged that subsequently, the defendant falsely represented to the three workers that Sparkle had miscalculated their wages, and with intent to defraud, induced the trio to return part of their wages, totalling over $38,000, to the defendant.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint in relation to workers’ wages. Enquiries revealed that the trio were in fact Sparkle’s full-time employees who were entitled to higher pay rates, but the defendant allegedly made false representations to them that they were employed as casual cleaning workers at a daily wage of either $420 or $450 only. Meanwhile, the defendant had never returned to Sparkle the wages which he defrauded out of the trio.The FEHD and Sparkle rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. 17
Jul 2024Former insurance employees charged by ICAC for $4.25m fraud and $2.3m money laundering involving dummy agents and false policy applicationsThe ICAC today (July 17) charged five former employees of an insurance company in two separate cases for their alleged involvement in a dummy agent scam as well as providing false information in insurance policy applications respectively to defraud the company of a total of $4.25 million in commissions and other payments. Three of the dummy insurance agents were also charged for allegedly handling over $2.3 million in crime proceeds.In the first case, Chau Yui-kwan, 34, former assistant unit manager of China Taiping Life Insurance (Hong Kong) Company Limited (China Taiping), faces 18 counts of fraud, contrary to Section 16A(1) of the Theft Ordinance. Co-defendants, Choi Pui-ka, 32; Chang Kiu-sum, 32; and Sit Siu-hang, 30, all former business managers of China Taiping, each faces one count of dealing with property known or reasonably believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence, contrary to Section 25(1) of the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance. The four defendants were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Friday (July 19) for mention. The case will later be transferred to the District Court for plea.At the material time, Chau was the former assistant unit manager of China Taiping and the upline manager of the three co-defendants as well as another insurance agent. China Taiping required all its agents to explain the terms and conditions of relevant insurance policies to their clients in person when selling an insurance product. The company prohibited its agents from providing any false information about the policyholder and the identity of the handling agent. China Taiping would issue commissions and other payments to the handling agent upon the approval of a policy application and receipt of the premium.The offences took place between February 2021 and October 2022. The 18 fraud charges allege that Chau deceived China Taiping by falsely representing to the latter that Choi, Chang, Sit and another insurance agent were the handling agents of those 18 insurance policies, and causing China Taiping to underwrite and issue the insurance policies and to pay commissions and other payments in relation to them.ICAC enquiries revealed that China Taiping had released a total of about $3.6 million of commissions and other payments to Choi, Chang, Sit and the said insurance agent in relation to the above-mentioned 18 insurance policies. A large proportion of the said payments were eventually received by Chau.Another three charges allege that Choi, Chang and Sit, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that a total of over $2.3million in their three personal bank accounts, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly represented any person’s proceeds of an indictable offence, dealt with the money.In a separate case, Lee Hon-yin, 28, former China Taiping insurance agent, faces two counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A(1) of the Theft Ordinance. Chau faces one count of forgery, contrary to Section 71 of the Crimes Ordinance. The duo were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Friday (July 19) for plea.In July 2021, China Taiping received two insurance policy applications which were purportedly taken out by a client and the insurance policies were sold by Lee. It is alleged that Lee had falsely represented to China Taiping that the applications were genuinely taken out by the client, causing China Taiping to approve the applications and release the commissions and other payments of over $650,000 to him. ICAC enquiries revealed that the client did not apply for the above-mentioned insurance policies, nor did she pay premiums for the policies.Meanwhile, Chau had allegedly forged the signatures of a client and relevant persons on a document for transferring the rights and interests of an insurance policy, inducing China Taiping to believe that the application was submitted by a client.China Taiping has rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the cases. 11
Jul 2024Former apparel manufacturer employee charged by ICAC for using false quotations and receipts to swindle $480,000A former Executive Assistant of an apparel manufacturer was charged by the ICAC today (July 11) for allegedly using false quotations and receipts in relation to repair works of her employer’s properties to swindle approximately $480,000.Rachel Chong Shui-kwan, 32, former Executive Assistant of Sterling and Grant Limited (SGL), faces nine charges of agent using document with intent to deceive her principal, contrary to Section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. She was released on ICAC bail, pending her appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (July 12) for mention.The investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Upon completion of the investigation, the ICAC sought legal advice from the Department of Justice, which advised charges be laid against the defendant. As an Executive Assistant of SLG, the defendant, apart from handling daily administrative work of SGL, was also responsible for handling leasing matters, including renovation and repair works, of two residential units owned by her employer.Before the commencement of each works order, the defendant was required to seek approval from her employer and provide relevant quotation for the latter’s confirmation. After completion of the works, the defendant had to submit the quotation or receipt issued by the responsible contractor to the company for processing payments.Between July 2020 and January 2021, the defendant allegedly submitted false quotations and receipts to SGL on nine occasions, misleading the company that the above documents were issued by a decoration contractor and that the relevant works were completed. As a result, SGL paid a total of around $480,000 to the contractor for settling the works payments.The ICAC enquiries revealed that the abovementioned contractor had never issued the said quotations and receipts. A large proportion of the said payments were eventually deposited into the defendant’s personal bank account.SGL rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.