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Case Studies
Under-the-table
Sally worked in the procurement department of an airline company and was responsible for procuring cabin cleaning services. Her high school friend, Susan, owned a cleaning service company that was struggling financially. Upon learning about Susan's difficulties, Sally proactively offered to help her secure cleaning service contracts with the airline. Sally even suggested that Susan could slightly inflate the service fees and share the excess with her as a reward for her assistance in obtaining the contracts.
According to the procurement regulations of the airline company, procurement staff members must declare any conflicts of interest with contractors. Putting her own interest before the company, Sally decided to conceal her relationship with Susan and assist her in obtaining the procurement contract. When submitting the conflict of interest declaration form, Sally falsely claimed she had no conflict of interest in the procurement process.
Case Analysis
Sally, a purchasing staff member of an airline company, made use of her office to ask the supplier to inflate the service fee and accepted advantages from the supplier as a reward for assisting the latter in obtaining the cleaning service contract without obtaining the approval of the airline company. Both Sally and Susan might violate Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).
By inviting Susan to submit a bid for the tendering exercise, Sally found herself in a conflict of interest situation. Sally intentionally concealed the conflict of interest and made false statements on the conflict of interest declaration form to deceive her company, which might also commit Section 9(3) of the POBO or other fraudulent offences. If fraudulent acts are involved to conceal conflicts for personal gain or to benefit acquaintances, it may lead to other criminal offences such as deception, fraud, false accounting, etc.
Employees must adhere to the company’s guidelines and procedures when conducting procurement and tendering exercises, including the guidelines on handling conflicts of interest. Employees should avoid conflict of interest as far as possible and make timely declaration strictly following the internal guidelines. Otherwise, they may violate the company’s code of conduct or internal policies.