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Jul 2025Eighteen months’ jail for operations director of newspaper’s advertising department for soliciting bribes from subordinatesA former director of operations of the advertising department of a newspaper company, charged by the ICAC, was today (July 3) sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment at the District Court for soliciting bribes from four subordinates and accepting about $88,000 in total from two of them after their receipt of commissions from the company, while the two subordinates were handed suspended sentences.Daniel Wu Hang-chi, also known as Wu Che-hang, 44, former director of operations of the advertising department of Hong Kong Commercial Daily (HKCD), was earlier convicted of eight charges after trial – three of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage and five of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. He was today sentenced to 18 month’s imprisonment and ordered to pay HKCD restitution of about $88,000, equivalent to the amount of bribes he received in the present case.Two subordinates of Wu, Lee Kwok-wai, 51, and Ngo Kam-fai, 45, respectively former and serving business representatives of the advertising department of HKCD, earlier pleaded guilty to six charges – five of offering an advantage to an agent and one of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage, contrary to sections 9(1)(a) and 9(2)(a) of the POBO and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. Lee was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, while Ng was jailed for two months, suspended for one year.In sentencing, Judge Mr Clement Lee Hing-nin reprimanded Wu for abusing his position to exploit his subordinates by soliciting bribes from them over a span of two years, which had undermined the reputation of his employer and the morale of his subordinates. His corrupt practice would have persisted if it had not been reported.The judge took a starting point of 21 months’ imprisonment and reduced Wu’s jail term by three months, having considered his mitigating factors. Suspended sentences were imposed on the two co-defendants after considering various mitigating factors, including their guilty pleas and assistance rendered to the prosecution, which had led to the conviction of their supervisor for corruption.Between September 2019 and February 2022, Wu was the director of operations of HKCD’s advertising department. He was responsible for overseeing the operations of the department, supervising business representatives, including Lee and Ngo, and assisting his subordinates to secure event sponsorships. Business representatives were entitled to 10 per cent of the sponsorships they secured for HKCD’s events as commissions, and they were required to submit to HKCD relevant documents via Wu for the calculation and release of the commissions.Wu would receive bonuses after each event or at the end of each year, subject to the profits made, but he was not entitled to share the commissions of his subordinates. Meanwhile, HKCD did not allow its staff to solicit or accept any advantage in relation to its business.The court heard that at the material time, Lee, Ngo and two other business representatives, who were responsible for sourcing sponsorships for four events organised by HKCD, had secured various sponsorships totalling about $3.8 million. They subsequently received commissions totalling about $380,000 released by HKCD.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Wu accompanied Lee, Ngo and the two other business representatives to meet various sponsors on his own accord and solicited bribes from them for his assistance in securing those event sponsorships. The bribes solicited by Wu ranged from 30 to 50 per cent of the commissions payable to each of the four subordinates in relation to the events.Upon Wu’s request, Lee offered four bribes totalling about $83,000, and Ngo a bribe of $5,000, to Wu. The two other business representatives turned down Wu’s solicitation.HKCD 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 Ricky Tsui. 02
Jul 2025Frozen meat supplier’s employee charged by ICAC gets three years’ jail for $5.2m goods fraud by concealing conflicting interestA former senior sales executive of a frozen meat supplier, charged by the ICAC, was today (July 2) sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at the District Court after admitting that he had deceived his then employer into supplying over $5.2 million worth of goods to a food supplier operated by him by deliberately concealing his conflicting interest, but he had only settled payment of about $100,000.Cheng Ming-lim, 49, former senior sales executive of H.R. Woodward Food Service Co., Limited (H.R. Woodward), received a jail term of three years today after pleading guilty to one count of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance.In sentencing, Deputy District Judge Miss Ivy Chui Yee-mei noted that the defendant had abused his position for personal gain, which involved a considerable sum of money, constituting a serious breach of trust. Although the defendant’s employer had reminded its staff to declare conflicting interest from time to time, he deliberately concealed his personal food supplier business. The court took a starting point of four and a half years’ imprisonment, and reduced the jail term to three years, having considered his guilty plea and other mitigating factors.The ICAC advises business organisations to formulate clear guidelines and systems of declaring conflict of interest. Staff members of business organisations are reminded to avoid conflict of interest situations and to make timely declaration to their employers. Concealing any conflict of interest in relation to one’s official duties to benefit himself or his associates may constitute a breach of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance or other criminal law. The ICAC also provides integrity training for catering practitioners and corruption prevention materials for enhancing staff integrity of the industry. For more information about the corruption prevention resources, please visit the webpage of Hong Kong Business Ethics Development Centre.The court heard that in late October 2020, the defendant joined H.R. Woodward, a frozen meat supplier. He was responsible for sourcing customers and processing purchase orders placed by customers, and had the discretion to set prices for purchase orders and payment terms. The defendant introduced Andreessen Food Service Company Limited (Andreessen), a food supplier, as its customer afterwards and handled the purchase orders placed by the latter personally.Between July and December 2021, Andreessen placed various purchase orders with H.R. Woodward in the total sum of over $5.2 million.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Andreessen was set up long before the defendant joined H.R. Woodward. The defendant was all along responsible for the operation of Andreessen, while his wife and mother were respectively the sole shareholder-cum-director and secretary of the company.Staff members of H.R. Woodward were not allowed to operate companies or to be employed by companies, including food or catering-related ones, which ran the same business as H.R. Woodward or were in competition with its business. However, the defendant had never declared his operation of Andreessen and had deliberately concealed his conflicting interest from H.R. Woodward when he handled Andreesen’s purchase orders in the capacity of an employee of H.R. Woodward with a view to deceive H.R. Woodward into selling goods to Andreesen.The court also heard that Andreesen only managed to settle payments of about $100,000 out of the over $5.2 million worth of goods purchased from H.R. Woodward. Andreesen eventually returned some of the products for payment settling, but it still owed H.R. Woodward an outstanding amount of over $2.7 million.H.R. Woodward rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Jason Lau, assisted by ICAC officer Chacha Chan. 26
Jun 2025Operations director of newspaper’s advertising department charged by ICAC convicted of soliciting bribes from subordinatesA former director of operations of the advertising department of a newspaper company, charged by the ICAC, was today (June 26) convicted at the District Court of eight counts of bribery for soliciting bribes from four subordinates and accepting about $88,000 in total from two of them after their receipt of commissions from the company. The two subordinates earlier pleaded guilty to having offered bribes.Daniel Wu Hang-chi, also known as Wu Che-hang, 44, former director of operations of the advertising department of Hong Kong Commercial Daily (HKCD), was convicted after trial by Judge Mr Clement Lee Hing-nin of eight charges – three of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage and five of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.Two subordinates of Wu, namely Lee Kwok-wai, 51, former business representatives of the advertising department of HKCD; and Ngo Kam-fai, 45, business representatives of the advertising department of HKCD, earlier pleaded guilty to six charges – five of offering an advantage to an agent and one of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage, contrary to sections 9(1)(a) and 9(2)(a) of the POBO and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.Judge Mr Clement Lee Hing-nin adjourned the case to July 3 for sentence. Wu was remanded in custody of the Correctional Services Department, while Lee and Ngo were granted bail.Between September 2019 and February 2022, Wu was the director of operations of HKCD’s advertising department. He was responsible for overseeing the operations of the department, supervising business representatives, including Lee and Ngo, and assisting his subordinates to secure event sponsorships. Business representatives were entitled to 10 per cent of the sponsorships they secured for HKCD’s events as commissions, and they were required to submit to HKCD relevant documents via Wu for the calculation and release of the commissions.Wu would receive bonuses after each event or at the end of each year, subject to the profits made, but he was not entitled to share the commissions of his subordinates. Meanwhile, HKCD did not allow its staff to solicit or accept any advantage in relation to its business.The court heard that at the material time, Lee, Ngo and two other business representatives, who were responsible for sourcing sponsorships for four events organised by HKCD, had secured various sponsorships totalling about $3.8 million. They subsequently received commissions totalling about $380,000 released by HKCD.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Wu accompanied Lee, Ngo and the two other business representatives to meet various sponsors on his own accord and solicited bribes from them for his assistance in securing those event sponsorships. The bribes solicited by Wu ranged from 30 to 50 per cent of the commissions payable to each of the four subordinates in relation to the events.Upon Wu’s request, Lee offered four bribes totalling about $83,000, and Ngo a bribe of $5,000, to Wu. The two other business representatives turned down Wu’s solicitation.HKCD 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 Ricky Tsui. 20
Jun 2025Two more individuals charged by ICAC for roles in $3.2m ‘ghost worker’ payroll fraudThe ICAC today (June 20) further charged a supermarket chain manager and an employee of a contractor with conspiracy to defraud upon receipt of further legal advice from the Department of Justice (DoJ), following defendants, who were charged earlier, indicated to plead guilty and render assistance to the prosecution. An employee and three contractor staff of the supermarket were previously charged for allegedly conspiring together to deceive the supermarket into releasing wages totalling over $3.2 million in a span of two years by falsifying attendance records of “ghost workers”.In October last year, four defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law. They were Lau Kin-pong, former senior supervisor at eCommercial Distribution Centre (EDC) of PARKnSHOP (HK) Limited (PARKnSHOP); Tai Kin-man, former assistant manager of Earnward Warehouse Limited (Earnward Warehouse), a contractor of PARKnSHOP; and Wong Wai-fung and Wong Pak-kan, both former workers employed by Logistics Network Management Limited (Logistics Network), another contractor of PARKnSHOP.Upon receipt of further advice from the DoJ, following the guilty plea indications of some of the defendants and their assistance rendered to the prosecution, the ICAC today further charged Cheng Cheuk-kei, 42, former warehouse operations manager at EDC of PARKnSHOP; and Lau Tsz-pan, 27, former worker of Logistics Network, with one count of conspiracy to defraud.The duo were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance at the Shatin Magistrates’ Courts next Tuesday (June 24). The prosecution will apply for transferring the case to the District Court.EDC of PARKnSHOP was responsible for sorting online orders and packing goods for distribution to customers. At the material time, Cheng was a warehouse operations manager at EDC; Lau was his subordinate senior supervisor responsible for administrative duties of EDC.PARKnSHOP hired Logistics Network to provide workers for EDC, including Lau, Wong Wai-fung and Wong Pak-kan. Workers were required to clock their time cards when reporting duty and getting off work, and to sign on a daily attendance sheet to verify their on-duty time. While the operation of Logistics Network was supervised by Earnward Warehouse, its assistant manager, Tai, was responsible for verifying attendance of workers.The charge alleges that between June 2019 and April 2021, Cheng and Lau, who were newly charged, had allegedly conspired together with the four defendants previously charged to defraud PARKnSHOP by falsely representing to PARKnSHOP the attendance records and workings hours of 13 workers of Logistics Network, thereby inducing PARKnSHOP to release wages of over $3.2 million to the workers.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that the defendants had used a clocking machine of the same model used by EDC to fabricate the attendance records of the 13 “ghost workers”, and equally shared the gains after deceiving the wages. At the material time, the “ghost workers” had never worked at EDC and they had not received any wages.PARKnSHOP, Earnward Warehouse and Logistics Network have rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. 18
Jun 2025Hostel manager charged by the ICAC for misappropriating payments of over $900,000A hostel manager was charged by the ICAC yesterday (June 17) for allegedly stealing payments of over $900,000 by altering booking records of the hostel on various occasions over a span of two years and covering up his misappropriation by making false representation that a group client owed payments to the hostel.Li Kei-tat, 39, former assistant lodge manager of Caritas-Hong Kong (Caritas), faces eight charges – one of agent using document with intent to deceive his principal, contrary to section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance; six of theft and one of fraud, contrary to sections 9 and 16A of the Theft Ordinance respectively.The defendant was released on ICAC bail, pending his appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (June 19) for mention. The prosecution will apply to transfer the case to the District Court for plea.The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. At the material time, i.e. between July 2021 and June 2023, the defendant was responsible for serving guests at the front desk of Caritas Oswald Cheung International House, including collecting payment and inputting the relevant booking information onto the computer system. Caritas found in early 2023 that payments from guests totalling over $1.6 million were unsettled. An internal investigation was launched and the defendant was required to submit an incident report.One of the charges alleges that the defendant had submitted an incident report containing false statement at the Caritas internal investigation, claiming that his mobile phone number was the contact number of a representative of an organisation and that the organisation owed Caritas a total of over $1.6 million in payments.The theft charges allege that the defendant had stolen six payments totalling about $880,000 belonging to Caritas. The remaining charge alleges that the defendant, with intent to defraud, induced a guest to pay him over $33,000 by falsely representing that he would transfer to Caritas the payment made by the guest.ICAC enquiries revealed that the defendant had allegedly altered the booking records of the hostel on various occasions so that he could steal the cash payments made by guests.Caritas rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.
Jul 2025Eighteen months’ jail for operations director of newspaper’s advertising department for soliciting bribes from subordinatesA former director of operations of the advertising department of a newspaper company, charged by the ICAC, was today (July 3) sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment at the District Court for soliciting bribes from four subordinates and accepting about $88,000 in total from two of them after their receipt of commissions from the company, while the two subordinates were handed suspended sentences.Daniel Wu Hang-chi, also known as Wu Che-hang, 44, former director of operations of the advertising department of Hong Kong Commercial Daily (HKCD), was earlier convicted of eight charges after trial – three of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage and five of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. He was today sentenced to 18 month’s imprisonment and ordered to pay HKCD restitution of about $88,000, equivalent to the amount of bribes he received in the present case.Two subordinates of Wu, Lee Kwok-wai, 51, and Ngo Kam-fai, 45, respectively former and serving business representatives of the advertising department of HKCD, earlier pleaded guilty to six charges – five of offering an advantage to an agent and one of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage, contrary to sections 9(1)(a) and 9(2)(a) of the POBO and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance. Lee was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, while Ng was jailed for two months, suspended for one year.In sentencing, Judge Mr Clement Lee Hing-nin reprimanded Wu for abusing his position to exploit his subordinates by soliciting bribes from them over a span of two years, which had undermined the reputation of his employer and the morale of his subordinates. His corrupt practice would have persisted if it had not been reported.The judge took a starting point of 21 months’ imprisonment and reduced Wu’s jail term by three months, having considered his mitigating factors. Suspended sentences were imposed on the two co-defendants after considering various mitigating factors, including their guilty pleas and assistance rendered to the prosecution, which had led to the conviction of their supervisor for corruption.Between September 2019 and February 2022, Wu was the director of operations of HKCD’s advertising department. He was responsible for overseeing the operations of the department, supervising business representatives, including Lee and Ngo, and assisting his subordinates to secure event sponsorships. Business representatives were entitled to 10 per cent of the sponsorships they secured for HKCD’s events as commissions, and they were required to submit to HKCD relevant documents via Wu for the calculation and release of the commissions.Wu would receive bonuses after each event or at the end of each year, subject to the profits made, but he was not entitled to share the commissions of his subordinates. Meanwhile, HKCD did not allow its staff to solicit or accept any advantage in relation to its business.The court heard that at the material time, Lee, Ngo and two other business representatives, who were responsible for sourcing sponsorships for four events organised by HKCD, had secured various sponsorships totalling about $3.8 million. They subsequently received commissions totalling about $380,000 released by HKCD.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Wu accompanied Lee, Ngo and the two other business representatives to meet various sponsors on his own accord and solicited bribes from them for his assistance in securing those event sponsorships. The bribes solicited by Wu ranged from 30 to 50 per cent of the commissions payable to each of the four subordinates in relation to the events.Upon Wu’s request, Lee offered four bribes totalling about $83,000, and Ngo a bribe of $5,000, to Wu. The two other business representatives turned down Wu’s solicitation.HKCD 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 Ricky Tsui. 02
Jul 2025Frozen meat supplier’s employee charged by ICAC gets three years’ jail for $5.2m goods fraud by concealing conflicting interestA former senior sales executive of a frozen meat supplier, charged by the ICAC, was today (July 2) sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at the District Court after admitting that he had deceived his then employer into supplying over $5.2 million worth of goods to a food supplier operated by him by deliberately concealing his conflicting interest, but he had only settled payment of about $100,000.Cheng Ming-lim, 49, former senior sales executive of H.R. Woodward Food Service Co., Limited (H.R. Woodward), received a jail term of three years today after pleading guilty to one count of fraud, contrary to section 16A of the Theft Ordinance.In sentencing, Deputy District Judge Miss Ivy Chui Yee-mei noted that the defendant had abused his position for personal gain, which involved a considerable sum of money, constituting a serious breach of trust. Although the defendant’s employer had reminded its staff to declare conflicting interest from time to time, he deliberately concealed his personal food supplier business. The court took a starting point of four and a half years’ imprisonment, and reduced the jail term to three years, having considered his guilty plea and other mitigating factors.The ICAC advises business organisations to formulate clear guidelines and systems of declaring conflict of interest. Staff members of business organisations are reminded to avoid conflict of interest situations and to make timely declaration to their employers. Concealing any conflict of interest in relation to one’s official duties to benefit himself or his associates may constitute a breach of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance or other criminal law. The ICAC also provides integrity training for catering practitioners and corruption prevention materials for enhancing staff integrity of the industry. For more information about the corruption prevention resources, please visit the webpage of Hong Kong Business Ethics Development Centre.The court heard that in late October 2020, the defendant joined H.R. Woodward, a frozen meat supplier. He was responsible for sourcing customers and processing purchase orders placed by customers, and had the discretion to set prices for purchase orders and payment terms. The defendant introduced Andreessen Food Service Company Limited (Andreessen), a food supplier, as its customer afterwards and handled the purchase orders placed by the latter personally.Between July and December 2021, Andreessen placed various purchase orders with H.R. Woodward in the total sum of over $5.2 million.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Andreessen was set up long before the defendant joined H.R. Woodward. The defendant was all along responsible for the operation of Andreessen, while his wife and mother were respectively the sole shareholder-cum-director and secretary of the company.Staff members of H.R. Woodward were not allowed to operate companies or to be employed by companies, including food or catering-related ones, which ran the same business as H.R. Woodward or were in competition with its business. However, the defendant had never declared his operation of Andreessen and had deliberately concealed his conflicting interest from H.R. Woodward when he handled Andreesen’s purchase orders in the capacity of an employee of H.R. Woodward with a view to deceive H.R. Woodward into selling goods to Andreesen.The court also heard that Andreesen only managed to settle payments of about $100,000 out of the over $5.2 million worth of goods purchased from H.R. Woodward. Andreesen eventually returned some of the products for payment settling, but it still owed H.R. Woodward an outstanding amount of over $2.7 million.H.R. Woodward rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Jason Lau, assisted by ICAC officer Chacha Chan. 26
Jun 2025Operations director of newspaper’s advertising department charged by ICAC convicted of soliciting bribes from subordinatesA former director of operations of the advertising department of a newspaper company, charged by the ICAC, was today (June 26) convicted at the District Court of eight counts of bribery for soliciting bribes from four subordinates and accepting about $88,000 in total from two of them after their receipt of commissions from the company. The two subordinates earlier pleaded guilty to having offered bribes.Daniel Wu Hang-chi, also known as Wu Che-hang, 44, former director of operations of the advertising department of Hong Kong Commercial Daily (HKCD), was convicted after trial by Judge Mr Clement Lee Hing-nin of eight charges – three of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage and five of agent accepting an advantage, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.Two subordinates of Wu, namely Lee Kwok-wai, 51, former business representatives of the advertising department of HKCD; and Ngo Kam-fai, 45, business representatives of the advertising department of HKCD, earlier pleaded guilty to six charges – five of offering an advantage to an agent and one of conspiracy for an agent to solicit an advantage, contrary to sections 9(1)(a) and 9(2)(a) of the POBO and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.Judge Mr Clement Lee Hing-nin adjourned the case to July 3 for sentence. Wu was remanded in custody of the Correctional Services Department, while Lee and Ngo were granted bail.Between September 2019 and February 2022, Wu was the director of operations of HKCD’s advertising department. He was responsible for overseeing the operations of the department, supervising business representatives, including Lee and Ngo, and assisting his subordinates to secure event sponsorships. Business representatives were entitled to 10 per cent of the sponsorships they secured for HKCD’s events as commissions, and they were required to submit to HKCD relevant documents via Wu for the calculation and release of the commissions.Wu would receive bonuses after each event or at the end of each year, subject to the profits made, but he was not entitled to share the commissions of his subordinates. Meanwhile, HKCD did not allow its staff to solicit or accept any advantage in relation to its business.The court heard that at the material time, Lee, Ngo and two other business representatives, who were responsible for sourcing sponsorships for four events organised by HKCD, had secured various sponsorships totalling about $3.8 million. They subsequently received commissions totalling about $380,000 released by HKCD.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that Wu accompanied Lee, Ngo and the two other business representatives to meet various sponsors on his own accord and solicited bribes from them for his assistance in securing those event sponsorships. The bribes solicited by Wu ranged from 30 to 50 per cent of the commissions payable to each of the four subordinates in relation to the events.Upon Wu’s request, Lee offered four bribes totalling about $83,000, and Ngo a bribe of $5,000, to Wu. The two other business representatives turned down Wu’s solicitation.HKCD 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 Ricky Tsui. 20
Jun 2025Two more individuals charged by ICAC for roles in $3.2m ‘ghost worker’ payroll fraudThe ICAC today (June 20) further charged a supermarket chain manager and an employee of a contractor with conspiracy to defraud upon receipt of further legal advice from the Department of Justice (DoJ), following defendants, who were charged earlier, indicated to plead guilty and render assistance to the prosecution. An employee and three contractor staff of the supermarket were previously charged for allegedly conspiring together to deceive the supermarket into releasing wages totalling over $3.2 million in a span of two years by falsifying attendance records of “ghost workers”.In October last year, four defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Common Law. They were Lau Kin-pong, former senior supervisor at eCommercial Distribution Centre (EDC) of PARKnSHOP (HK) Limited (PARKnSHOP); Tai Kin-man, former assistant manager of Earnward Warehouse Limited (Earnward Warehouse), a contractor of PARKnSHOP; and Wong Wai-fung and Wong Pak-kan, both former workers employed by Logistics Network Management Limited (Logistics Network), another contractor of PARKnSHOP.Upon receipt of further advice from the DoJ, following the guilty plea indications of some of the defendants and their assistance rendered to the prosecution, the ICAC today further charged Cheng Cheuk-kei, 42, former warehouse operations manager at EDC of PARKnSHOP; and Lau Tsz-pan, 27, former worker of Logistics Network, with one count of conspiracy to defraud.The duo were released on ICAC bail, pending their appearance at the Shatin Magistrates’ Courts next Tuesday (June 24). The prosecution will apply for transferring the case to the District Court.EDC of PARKnSHOP was responsible for sorting online orders and packing goods for distribution to customers. At the material time, Cheng was a warehouse operations manager at EDC; Lau was his subordinate senior supervisor responsible for administrative duties of EDC.PARKnSHOP hired Logistics Network to provide workers for EDC, including Lau, Wong Wai-fung and Wong Pak-kan. Workers were required to clock their time cards when reporting duty and getting off work, and to sign on a daily attendance sheet to verify their on-duty time. While the operation of Logistics Network was supervised by Earnward Warehouse, its assistant manager, Tai, was responsible for verifying attendance of workers.The charge alleges that between June 2019 and April 2021, Cheng and Lau, who were newly charged, had allegedly conspired together with the four defendants previously charged to defraud PARKnSHOP by falsely representing to PARKnSHOP the attendance records and workings hours of 13 workers of Logistics Network, thereby inducing PARKnSHOP to release wages of over $3.2 million to the workers.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that the defendants had used a clocking machine of the same model used by EDC to fabricate the attendance records of the 13 “ghost workers”, and equally shared the gains after deceiving the wages. At the material time, the “ghost workers” had never worked at EDC and they had not received any wages.PARKnSHOP, Earnward Warehouse and Logistics Network have rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case. 18
Jun 2025Hostel manager charged by the ICAC for misappropriating payments of over $900,000A hostel manager was charged by the ICAC yesterday (June 17) for allegedly stealing payments of over $900,000 by altering booking records of the hostel on various occasions over a span of two years and covering up his misappropriation by making false representation that a group client owed payments to the hostel.Li Kei-tat, 39, former assistant lodge manager of Caritas-Hong Kong (Caritas), faces eight charges – one of agent using document with intent to deceive his principal, contrary to section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance; six of theft and one of fraud, contrary to sections 9 and 16A of the Theft Ordinance respectively.The defendant was released on ICAC bail, pending his appearance at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (June 19) for mention. The prosecution will apply to transfer the case to the District Court for plea.The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. At the material time, i.e. between July 2021 and June 2023, the defendant was responsible for serving guests at the front desk of Caritas Oswald Cheung International House, including collecting payment and inputting the relevant booking information onto the computer system. Caritas found in early 2023 that payments from guests totalling over $1.6 million were unsettled. An internal investigation was launched and the defendant was required to submit an incident report.One of the charges alleges that the defendant had submitted an incident report containing false statement at the Caritas internal investigation, claiming that his mobile phone number was the contact number of a representative of an organisation and that the organisation owed Caritas a total of over $1.6 million in payments.The theft charges allege that the defendant had stolen six payments totalling about $880,000 belonging to Caritas. The remaining charge alleges that the defendant, with intent to defraud, induced a guest to pay him over $33,000 by falsely representing that he would transfer to Caritas the payment made by the guest.ICAC enquiries revealed that the defendant had allegedly altered the booking records of the hostel on various occasions so that he could steal the cash payments made by guests.Caritas rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.