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Sep 2025Two subcontractor workers of North District Community Health Centre sentenced for conspiring with team leader to accept $300,000 bribesTwo air-conditioning subcontractor workers, charged by the ICAC, today (September 4) respectively received a jail sentence and a suspended sentence after admitting at the Fanling Magistrates’ Courts that they had conspired with a team leader to accept bribes totalling over $300,000 from workers of a government development project for the North District Community Health Centre.Tse Shu-hong, 65; and Ho Hon-kei, 54, both former workers of Datatech Enterprises Limited (Datatech), today pleaded guilty to a total of three counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.Tse was jailed for seven weeks and ordered to pay Datatech a restitution of $13,500, equivalent to the bribes he received in the present case. In sentencing, Magistrate Miss Frances Leung Nga-yan remarked the court had already taken into account various factors, including Tse’s guilty plea and the fact that he had only accepted bribes from one worker.The magistrate added that Ho was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and fined $30,000, having considered that he had followed the instructions of his team leader to commit offences out of blind loyalty and had no personal gain in the present case.At the material time, i.e. between December 2022 and February 2024, Datatech was a subcontractor responsible for air-conditioning and refrigeration system installation of the development project of North District Community Health Centre cum Social Welfare Facilities of the Hospital Authority (HA). As stipulated in the employment contract, the daily wage of a worker was $2,000.The court heard that Ho and four other workers were referred by a team leader of Datatech or Tse to work at the site. Datatech prohibited its staff to solicit or accept advantages from others in relation to its business.Tse and Ho admitted to the court that they had separately conspired with the team leader to accept bribes ranging from $600 to $1,000 per working day, totalling over $300,000, from the workers referred by them to work for Datatech.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that the workers paid bribes for fear of losing their jobs, and Ho himself had paid bribes of about $120,000 to the team leader.Co-defendant Yung Sung-kwan, 62, former team leader of Datatech, charged by the ICAC a total of five charges, namely three counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage and two counts of agent accepting an advantage. The case was adjourned to November 27 for mention and Yung’s bail was extended.The HA and Datatech rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Keith Yan. 01
Sep 2025Eight charged by ICAC admit beating facial recognition system in $250,000 commercial complex construction wage fraudFollowing the guilty pleas of five co-defendants, three of the eight employees of a contractor of a commercial complex construction project, charged by the ICAC, today (September 1) admitted at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts that they had falsified the attendance records of workers by altering the facial images registered with the facial recognition system at the construction site to defraud the contractor of wage payments totalling over $250,000.The defendants were Tang Yu-ching, former assistant general foreman of Sunnic Engineering Limited (Sunnic); Chan Tin-hon, former foreman of Sunnic; Lai Yu-kiu, then site administration officer of Sunnic; and five construction workers, namely Chiu Kim-wan, Choi Yun, See Kwok-shing, Johnny Chong Kam-hung and Mak Chi-kin.The eight defendants, aged between 35 and 58, pleaded guilty to a total of six counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A (1) of the Theft Ordinance. Among them, Lai, See and Chong entered guilty pleas today, while the five co-defendants had pleaded guilty to the offences earlier.Magistrate Mr Gary Chu Man-hon remanded Tang in the custody of the Correctional Services Department, pending his background report for sentence on September 15. The seven co-defendants were granted bail, pending their community service order reports for sentence on September 30.The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. The court heard that in June 2021, Sunnic was engaged as the main contractor of the construction project of a commercial complex in Tsim Sha Tsui. Tang and Chan, respectively the assistant general foreman and foreman of Sunnic, were responsible for supervising the operation of the construction site of the project.Workers of the project were required to register their facial images with the facial recognition system for accessing the site. They were also required to scan their faces for taking attendance when reporting on and off duty. Based on the attendance records, Sunnic would calculate and release wage payments each month. Lai was authorised to operate the system at the material time.The court heard that between December 2022 and January 2023, Tang had referred six construction workers, including Chiu, Choi, See, Chong and Mak, to work at the site as general workers. Facial images of the six workers were registered in the facial recognition system by Chan.The relevant attendance records showed that the six workers had respectively worked at the site for 36 days to 43 days, leading to Sunnic’s subsequent release of wage payments totalling over $250,000 to a subcontractor. But ICAC enquiries revealed that Tang had told the workers that they were not required to work at the site and the wage payments were eventually passed to Tang and Chan.The ICAC investigation revealed that Tang had arranged Chan, with the assistance of Lai, to alter the facial images of the six workers registered with the facial recognition system by replacing them with Chan’s facial image so as to falsify the workers’ attendance records by scanning Chan’s face.Sunnic rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Ken Yip. 11
Aug 2025Ex-bank manager admits role in JPY400m investment fraud revealed in ICAC corruption probeAn ICAC corruption investigation revealed that an illegal syndicate, with the assistance of bank officers in signing and issuing false bank documents, had deceived Japanese investors into making investments of over JPY400 million (about HK$28.4 million) in various companies which claimed to take part in investment projects in Africa by falsely representing that their bank accounts held asset totalling over HK$37 billion. While three out of five defendants had earlier entered guilty pleas, one more former bank manager today (August 11) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud at the District Court.Leung Ho-yin, 39, former relationship manager of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (Standard Chartered Bank), today pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to the Common Law. Two other former relationship managers of Standard Chartered Bank, Woo Man-ho and Chan Tak-ching, both 38; and Law Man-fai, 51, self-employed financial consultant; had earlier pleaded guilty to a total of five counts of conspiracy to defraud.Deputy Judge Ms May Chung Ming-sun adjourned their case to October 23 for mention, and granted bail to the four defendants.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. At the material time, Woo, Chan and Leung respectively working at Standard Chartered Bank’s business banking department and priority banking department. The bank would issue documents to confirm the balance of a client’s account held with the bank upon request, but the trio were not authorised to sign and issue those documents. At that time, Law was a self-employed financial consultant.The court heard that between January 2015 and September 2016, the four defendants had conspired with four foreign nationals to defraud various Japanese investors to invest in ADF Capital Limited (ADF) and a number of companies by using false proof of fund letters and corporate refund promissory notes (CRPNs) signed by Woo and Chan, purportedly issued by Standard Chartered Bank.The four foreign nationals included two shareholders-cum-directors of ADF, respectively a Zambian man and a Korean man. Another individual was a Thai man, who was Chan’s client; and the remaining individual was a Japanese woman, who was the chief executive officer of a company.Leung admitted that he had conspired with the three co-defendants, together with three of the foreign nationals, to use four false CRPNs involving promised returns totalling US$7.2 million (over HK$56 million) to falsely represent that Standard Chartered Bank was the guarantor of ADF which undertook to pay the relevant investors. As a result, various Japanese investors were deceived into making investments totalling over JPY400 million (about HK$28.4 million) to ADF and a number of companies.Co-defendants, namely Woo, Chan and Law, admitted that they had falsely represented that the Thai man had asset of 3.3 billion euros (about HK$25.5 billion) in the bank account held with Standard Chartered Bank, and issued eight false proof of fund letters.Meanwhile, Woo admitted that he had conspired with the Zambian man to issue a false proof of fund letter to falsely represent that the latter’s company had funds of US$1.5 billion (about HK$11.6 billion) available for investments in Africa. Law admitted that he and individuals implicated in the present case had made use of four other CRPNs to make false representations that Standard Chartered Bank was the guarantor of ADF which undertook to pay US$50 million (over HK$390 million) for the CRPNs.The ICAC enquiries revealed that Standard Chartered Bank had never held the assets concerned on behalf of the Thai man, while the Zambian man’s company had never held any bank account with the bank.The remaining co-defendant, Catherine Kum Kit-ching, 57, manager of ADF, earlier pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to deal with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable. The trial will commence tomorrow (August 12).Standard Chartered Bank had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Wong Hay-yiu, assisted by ICAC officer Janice Chan. 01
Aug 2025Ex-district manager of insurer charged by ICAC for conspiring with downline agents in $1.4m commissions fraud gets 41 months’ jailThe ICAC had earlier charged a former district manager of an insurer and her three downline agents of different tiers for conspiring together to defraud the insurer of commissions, overriding commissions and bonuses totalling over $1.4 million by making false representations that the lowest tier agent had handled various insurance policy applications fabricated by them. The former district manager and two of the downline agents were today (August 1) sentenced at the District Court to jail terms ranging from 20 to 41 months.The four defendants were Hui Ngai-hing, 61, former district manager of FTLife Insurance Company Limited (FTLife) (now renamed as Chow Tai Fook Life Insurance Company Limited (CTF Life)); two former agency managers of FTLife Monica Wong Fung-yee and Yee Sheung-wai, aged 66 and 40; and Chau Ching-man, 33, former insurance agent of FTLife. They were jointly charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to the Common Law.Hui and Wong, both convicted after trial, each received a jail term of 41 months today. Yee, who earlier pleaded guilty to the charge, was jailed for 20 months. Co-defendant Chau, was earlier sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment after entering a guilty plea.In sentencing, Judge Ms Ada Yim Shun-yee reprimanded the defendants for breaching the trust placed in them and fabricating insurance policy applications for personal gains by making use of the loopholes in the approval of insurance policies. District manager Hui and agency manager Wong were the instigators gaining most from the scam. They were each jailed for 41 months as they were equally culpable. The jail term of Yee, another agency manager, was reduced from 33 to 20 months in view of his guilty plea and assistance rendered to the prosecution in the trial.The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint in relation to insurance policy applications. The offence took place between July and September 2020, during which Hui was a district manager of insurer FTLife while Wong, Yee and Chau were her downline agents working in different tiers in descending order. Whenever Chau sold an insurance product, she and the three co-defendants would respectively receive a commission and overriding commissions. They would also be entitled to quarter-end bonuses and year-end bonuses when sales targets were achieved.The court heard that at the material time, FTLife received 32 insurance policy applications purportedly handled by Chau. The four defendants falsely represented to FTLife that the applications were made by the relevant policyholders, deceiving FTLife into approving the applications and releasing the relevant wage payments, commissions, overriding commissions, quarter-end bonuses and year-end bonuses totalling over $1.4 million to the four defendants.ICAC investigation revealed that Chau was not in Hong Kong when the insurance policies were taken out. In addition, most of the policyholders had no knowledge of the insurance policies and they did not take them out or pay any premium for the policies. Those insurance policies eventually lapsed due to default of payment of premiums.Enquiries revealed that the premiums of some of the policies were in fact paid by Hui. After Yee and Chau had received the commissions, bonuses and payments from FTLife, they returned the whole sums to Hui and respectively received $5,000 and $3,000 in return.CTF Life rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Jacky Jim, assisted by ICAC officer Amy Tsui.The ICAC has always attached high importance on upholding integrity in the insurance sector. The Commission will continue to collaborate with the industry to provide integrity training for insurance practitioners, helping both managerial and other ranks of staff understand common corruption risks. The “Corruption Prevention Guide for Insurance Companies” also assists insurance companies in building and strengthening their corruption prevention capabilities in key operational areas, fostering a probity culture in the industry. For more information on the ICAC’s preventive and educational services for the industry, please visit the Ethics Promotion Website for the Insurance Industry and Corruption Prevention Advisory Service Web Portal. 31
Jul 2025Over 20 months’ jail for apparel company employee charged by ICAC for using false receipts to swindle $480,000A former executive assistant of an apparel manufacturer, charged by the ICAC with an offence under the anti-bribery law, was today (July 31) sentenced to a jail term of 20 months and 3 days at the Shatin Magistrates’ Courts for using false quotations and receipts to swindle works payments totalling $480,000 from the company.Rachel Chong Shui-kwan, 33, former executive assistant of Sterling and Grant Limited (SGL), was earlier convicted after trial of nine charges of agent using document with intent to deceive her principal, contrary to Section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.In sentencing, Magistrate Mr Jeffrey Sze Cho-yiu stated that the defendant had abused her employer’s trust to orchestrate a planned scheme which spanned over several months, showing that the offences were not committed out of momentary greed. In addition, the defendant had a criminal record of committing an offence of similar nature and showed no remorse. The court took a starting point of over 23 months imprisonment and reduced the defendant’s jail term to 20 months and 3 days, having considered her full repayment of the sum of money involved in the present case.The court heard that when the defendant worked as executive assistant of SGL, her duties included handling the leasing matters of two residential properties of her employer and the relevant renovation and repair works. 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.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that between July 2020 and January 2021, the defendant submitted false quotations or receipts to SGL on nine occasions to mislead SGL that the documents were issued by a renovation company. As a result, SGL was induced to release about $480,000 in total to the renovation company for settling the works payments.The ICAC investigation revealed that the renovation company had never issued those quotations and receipts, and most of the said payments were deposited into the personal bank account of the defendant.SGL rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Audrey Parwani, assisted by ICAC officer Eva Chan.
Sep 2025Two subcontractor workers of North District Community Health Centre sentenced for conspiring with team leader to accept $300,000 bribesTwo air-conditioning subcontractor workers, charged by the ICAC, today (September 4) respectively received a jail sentence and a suspended sentence after admitting at the Fanling Magistrates’ Courts that they had conspired with a team leader to accept bribes totalling over $300,000 from workers of a government development project for the North District Community Health Centre.Tse Shu-hong, 65; and Ho Hon-kei, 54, both former workers of Datatech Enterprises Limited (Datatech), today pleaded guilty to a total of three counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage, contrary to section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and section 159A of the Crimes Ordinance.Tse was jailed for seven weeks and ordered to pay Datatech a restitution of $13,500, equivalent to the bribes he received in the present case. In sentencing, Magistrate Miss Frances Leung Nga-yan remarked the court had already taken into account various factors, including Tse’s guilty plea and the fact that he had only accepted bribes from one worker.The magistrate added that Ho was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and fined $30,000, having considered that he had followed the instructions of his team leader to commit offences out of blind loyalty and had no personal gain in the present case.At the material time, i.e. between December 2022 and February 2024, Datatech was a subcontractor responsible for air-conditioning and refrigeration system installation of the development project of North District Community Health Centre cum Social Welfare Facilities of the Hospital Authority (HA). As stipulated in the employment contract, the daily wage of a worker was $2,000.The court heard that Ho and four other workers were referred by a team leader of Datatech or Tse to work at the site. Datatech prohibited its staff to solicit or accept advantages from others in relation to its business.Tse and Ho admitted to the court that they had separately conspired with the team leader to accept bribes ranging from $600 to $1,000 per working day, totalling over $300,000, from the workers referred by them to work for Datatech.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that the workers paid bribes for fear of losing their jobs, and Ho himself had paid bribes of about $120,000 to the team leader.Co-defendant Yung Sung-kwan, 62, former team leader of Datatech, charged by the ICAC a total of five charges, namely three counts of conspiracy for an agent to accept an advantage and two counts of agent accepting an advantage. The case was adjourned to November 27 for mention and Yung’s bail was extended.The HA and Datatech rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Keith Yan. 01
Sep 2025Eight charged by ICAC admit beating facial recognition system in $250,000 commercial complex construction wage fraudFollowing the guilty pleas of five co-defendants, three of the eight employees of a contractor of a commercial complex construction project, charged by the ICAC, today (September 1) admitted at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts that they had falsified the attendance records of workers by altering the facial images registered with the facial recognition system at the construction site to defraud the contractor of wage payments totalling over $250,000.The defendants were Tang Yu-ching, former assistant general foreman of Sunnic Engineering Limited (Sunnic); Chan Tin-hon, former foreman of Sunnic; Lai Yu-kiu, then site administration officer of Sunnic; and five construction workers, namely Chiu Kim-wan, Choi Yun, See Kwok-shing, Johnny Chong Kam-hung and Mak Chi-kin.The eight defendants, aged between 35 and 58, pleaded guilty to a total of six counts of fraud, contrary to section 16A (1) of the Theft Ordinance. Among them, Lai, See and Chong entered guilty pleas today, while the five co-defendants had pleaded guilty to the offences earlier.Magistrate Mr Gary Chu Man-hon remanded Tang in the custody of the Correctional Services Department, pending his background report for sentence on September 15. The seven co-defendants were granted bail, pending their community service order reports for sentence on September 30.The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint. The court heard that in June 2021, Sunnic was engaged as the main contractor of the construction project of a commercial complex in Tsim Sha Tsui. Tang and Chan, respectively the assistant general foreman and foreman of Sunnic, were responsible for supervising the operation of the construction site of the project.Workers of the project were required to register their facial images with the facial recognition system for accessing the site. They were also required to scan their faces for taking attendance when reporting on and off duty. Based on the attendance records, Sunnic would calculate and release wage payments each month. Lai was authorised to operate the system at the material time.The court heard that between December 2022 and January 2023, Tang had referred six construction workers, including Chiu, Choi, See, Chong and Mak, to work at the site as general workers. Facial images of the six workers were registered in the facial recognition system by Chan.The relevant attendance records showed that the six workers had respectively worked at the site for 36 days to 43 days, leading to Sunnic’s subsequent release of wage payments totalling over $250,000 to a subcontractor. But ICAC enquiries revealed that Tang had told the workers that they were not required to work at the site and the wage payments were eventually passed to Tang and Chan.The ICAC investigation revealed that Tang had arranged Chan, with the assistance of Lai, to alter the facial images of the six workers registered with the facial recognition system by replacing them with Chan’s facial image so as to falsify the workers’ attendance records by scanning Chan’s face.Sunnic rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officer Ken Yip. 11
Aug 2025Ex-bank manager admits role in JPY400m investment fraud revealed in ICAC corruption probeAn ICAC corruption investigation revealed that an illegal syndicate, with the assistance of bank officers in signing and issuing false bank documents, had deceived Japanese investors into making investments of over JPY400 million (about HK$28.4 million) in various companies which claimed to take part in investment projects in Africa by falsely representing that their bank accounts held asset totalling over HK$37 billion. While three out of five defendants had earlier entered guilty pleas, one more former bank manager today (August 11) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud at the District Court.Leung Ho-yin, 39, former relationship manager of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (Standard Chartered Bank), today pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to the Common Law. Two other former relationship managers of Standard Chartered Bank, Woo Man-ho and Chan Tak-ching, both 38; and Law Man-fai, 51, self-employed financial consultant; had earlier pleaded guilty to a total of five counts of conspiracy to defraud.Deputy Judge Ms May Chung Ming-sun adjourned their case to October 23 for mention, and granted bail to the four defendants.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. At the material time, Woo, Chan and Leung respectively working at Standard Chartered Bank’s business banking department and priority banking department. The bank would issue documents to confirm the balance of a client’s account held with the bank upon request, but the trio were not authorised to sign and issue those documents. At that time, Law was a self-employed financial consultant.The court heard that between January 2015 and September 2016, the four defendants had conspired with four foreign nationals to defraud various Japanese investors to invest in ADF Capital Limited (ADF) and a number of companies by using false proof of fund letters and corporate refund promissory notes (CRPNs) signed by Woo and Chan, purportedly issued by Standard Chartered Bank.The four foreign nationals included two shareholders-cum-directors of ADF, respectively a Zambian man and a Korean man. Another individual was a Thai man, who was Chan’s client; and the remaining individual was a Japanese woman, who was the chief executive officer of a company.Leung admitted that he had conspired with the three co-defendants, together with three of the foreign nationals, to use four false CRPNs involving promised returns totalling US$7.2 million (over HK$56 million) to falsely represent that Standard Chartered Bank was the guarantor of ADF which undertook to pay the relevant investors. As a result, various Japanese investors were deceived into making investments totalling over JPY400 million (about HK$28.4 million) to ADF and a number of companies.Co-defendants, namely Woo, Chan and Law, admitted that they had falsely represented that the Thai man had asset of 3.3 billion euros (about HK$25.5 billion) in the bank account held with Standard Chartered Bank, and issued eight false proof of fund letters.Meanwhile, Woo admitted that he had conspired with the Zambian man to issue a false proof of fund letter to falsely represent that the latter’s company had funds of US$1.5 billion (about HK$11.6 billion) available for investments in Africa. Law admitted that he and individuals implicated in the present case had made use of four other CRPNs to make false representations that Standard Chartered Bank was the guarantor of ADF which undertook to pay US$50 million (over HK$390 million) for the CRPNs.The ICAC enquiries revealed that Standard Chartered Bank had never held the assets concerned on behalf of the Thai man, while the Zambian man’s company had never held any bank account with the bank.The remaining co-defendant, Catherine Kum Kit-ching, 57, manager of ADF, earlier pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to deal with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable. The trial will commence tomorrow (August 12).Standard Chartered Bank had rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Wong Hay-yiu, assisted by ICAC officer Janice Chan. 01
Aug 2025Ex-district manager of insurer charged by ICAC for conspiring with downline agents in $1.4m commissions fraud gets 41 months’ jailThe ICAC had earlier charged a former district manager of an insurer and her three downline agents of different tiers for conspiring together to defraud the insurer of commissions, overriding commissions and bonuses totalling over $1.4 million by making false representations that the lowest tier agent had handled various insurance policy applications fabricated by them. The former district manager and two of the downline agents were today (August 1) sentenced at the District Court to jail terms ranging from 20 to 41 months.The four defendants were Hui Ngai-hing, 61, former district manager of FTLife Insurance Company Limited (FTLife) (now renamed as Chow Tai Fook Life Insurance Company Limited (CTF Life)); two former agency managers of FTLife Monica Wong Fung-yee and Yee Sheung-wai, aged 66 and 40; and Chau Ching-man, 33, former insurance agent of FTLife. They were jointly charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to the Common Law.Hui and Wong, both convicted after trial, each received a jail term of 41 months today. Yee, who earlier pleaded guilty to the charge, was jailed for 20 months. Co-defendant Chau, was earlier sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment after entering a guilty plea.In sentencing, Judge Ms Ada Yim Shun-yee reprimanded the defendants for breaching the trust placed in them and fabricating insurance policy applications for personal gains by making use of the loopholes in the approval of insurance policies. District manager Hui and agency manager Wong were the instigators gaining most from the scam. They were each jailed for 41 months as they were equally culpable. The jail term of Yee, another agency manager, was reduced from 33 to 20 months in view of his guilty plea and assistance rendered to the prosecution in the trial.The ICAC investigation stemmed from a corruption complaint in relation to insurance policy applications. The offence took place between July and September 2020, during which Hui was a district manager of insurer FTLife while Wong, Yee and Chau were her downline agents working in different tiers in descending order. Whenever Chau sold an insurance product, she and the three co-defendants would respectively receive a commission and overriding commissions. They would also be entitled to quarter-end bonuses and year-end bonuses when sales targets were achieved.The court heard that at the material time, FTLife received 32 insurance policy applications purportedly handled by Chau. The four defendants falsely represented to FTLife that the applications were made by the relevant policyholders, deceiving FTLife into approving the applications and releasing the relevant wage payments, commissions, overriding commissions, quarter-end bonuses and year-end bonuses totalling over $1.4 million to the four defendants.ICAC investigation revealed that Chau was not in Hong Kong when the insurance policies were taken out. In addition, most of the policyholders had no knowledge of the insurance policies and they did not take them out or pay any premium for the policies. Those insurance policies eventually lapsed due to default of payment of premiums.Enquiries revealed that the premiums of some of the policies were in fact paid by Hui. After Yee and Chau had received the commissions, bonuses and payments from FTLife, they returned the whole sums to Hui and respectively received $5,000 and $3,000 in return.CTF Life rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by prosecuting counsel Jacky Jim, assisted by ICAC officer Amy Tsui.The ICAC has always attached high importance on upholding integrity in the insurance sector. The Commission will continue to collaborate with the industry to provide integrity training for insurance practitioners, helping both managerial and other ranks of staff understand common corruption risks. The “Corruption Prevention Guide for Insurance Companies” also assists insurance companies in building and strengthening their corruption prevention capabilities in key operational areas, fostering a probity culture in the industry. For more information on the ICAC’s preventive and educational services for the industry, please visit the Ethics Promotion Website for the Insurance Industry and Corruption Prevention Advisory Service Web Portal. 31
Jul 2025Over 20 months’ jail for apparel company employee charged by ICAC for using false receipts to swindle $480,000A former executive assistant of an apparel manufacturer, charged by the ICAC with an offence under the anti-bribery law, was today (July 31) sentenced to a jail term of 20 months and 3 days at the Shatin Magistrates’ Courts for using false quotations and receipts to swindle works payments totalling $480,000 from the company.Rachel Chong Shui-kwan, 33, former executive assistant of Sterling and Grant Limited (SGL), was earlier convicted after trial of nine charges of agent using document with intent to deceive her principal, contrary to Section 9(3) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.In sentencing, Magistrate Mr Jeffrey Sze Cho-yiu stated that the defendant had abused her employer’s trust to orchestrate a planned scheme which spanned over several months, showing that the offences were not committed out of momentary greed. In addition, the defendant had a criminal record of committing an offence of similar nature and showed no remorse. The court took a starting point of over 23 months imprisonment and reduced the defendant’s jail term to 20 months and 3 days, having considered her full repayment of the sum of money involved in the present case.The court heard that when the defendant worked as executive assistant of SGL, her duties included handling the leasing matters of two residential properties of her employer and the relevant renovation and repair works. 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.The ICAC investigation arose from a corruption complaint. Enquiries revealed that between July 2020 and January 2021, the defendant submitted false quotations or receipts to SGL on nine occasions to mislead SGL that the documents were issued by a renovation company. As a result, SGL was induced to release about $480,000 in total to the renovation company for settling the works payments.The ICAC investigation revealed that the renovation company had never issued those quotations and receipts, and most of the said payments were deposited into the personal bank account of the defendant.SGL rendered full assistance to the ICAC during its investigation into the case.The prosecution was today represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Audrey Parwani, assisted by ICAC officer Eva Chan.