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Case Studies
Accepting bribes to act against regulation
Construction company A was planning to carry out a large-scale residential development project on a piece of land in the North East of the New Territories that was owned by the company. The company decided to select a contractor by open tender.
Mr Lee, one of the supervising officers of Company A, was responsible for overseeing the project. By virtue of his position, Mr Lee had access to the business secrets, including the quotation prices offered by other tenderers and recommendations given by the consultancy company.
During the tendering process, Mr Lee arranged to have a meeting with Mr Ho, who was employed by one of the tendering companies. Mr Lee claimed that he could disclose business secrets concerning the project to Mr Ho on the condition that Mr Ho’s company, after winning the contract, would pay him 2.5% of the project construction cost, which would bring him an estimated reward of HK$2 million.
Following disclosure of the bribery scam, Mr Lee was arrested and found guilty of corruption crime.
Case Analysis
By soliciting an advantage and leaking the quotation information to Mr Ho, Mr Lee might have committed an offence under Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. Meanwhile, Mr Ho might also have committed an offence by offering bribes. The section (Section 9) states that:
- an agent (normally an employee) solicits or accepts an advantage without the permission of his principal (normally the employer) when conducting his principal’s affairs or business commits an offence; and
- the person who offers the advantage also commits an offence.
A company should establish a good quotation and tendering system to enable the selection of the best contractor for the job required. A good quotation/tendering system should prevent tender and quotation information from leakage. Quotations or tenders received should not be opened before the deadline to reduce the likelihood of information leakage. Furthermore, the opening of the tenders and quotations should be carried out by at least two persons to prevent tampering with the prices submitted