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Case Studies
Deceiving the company by subcontracting a job from a contractor
When receiving his company's instruction to design a computer software for a digital answering machine, a company's software engineer claimed that he was too busy to take up the job and recommended it to be contracted out to an outside software house which was owned solely by his former colleague.
The software house owner at first had no intention to undertake the job. But the software engineer persuaded him to secure the job first and then sub-contract it back to the software engineer. Using the software house as a disguise to deceive his own company, the software engineer could pocket $95,000 being 90% of the project fee while the rest would go to the owner.
Case Analysis
The software engineer contravened the Rules of Conduct of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, which require an engineer to offer complete loyalty to his employer and avoid engaging in business, investments or activities which conflict with the interests of his employer.
An employment or contract could be considered as an advantage. As the software engineer's company neither approved the engineer to take up part-time job nor allowed him to accept any advantage in relation to his duties, the engineer had violated Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance for assisting the software house to get the job and accepting the project fee in return.