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Case Studies
Accepting advantage from contractor
Man, an IT manager, was responsible for sourcing a LAN system to be set up in his large engineering company. He started to contact various contractors and one of them was a medium sized computer firm called ABC whose technical sales manager Gordon was a personable young man.
Gordon tried to persuade Man to use his suggested LAN system by quoting a price at $500,000 and claiming it the best bargain in the market. Indeed, Gordon had his eyes set on the cost of after-sales service and maintenance which was actually quite profitable. Man hesitated and said that he needed to seek his supervisor’s approval first as well as to seek a few more other quotations for comparison. In order to secure the deal, Gordon made a suggestion that he would offer Man a set of free computer equipment of the latest model for his personal use if Man assisted Gordon in getting the contract.
What should Man do? Should Man accept Gordon’s attractive offer? Would he commit any offence by doing so?
Case Analysis
Under Section 9(1) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO), it would be an offence if Man (an employee), without the approval of his employer, accepted advantage from Gordon for assisting him in getting the business contract.
According to Section 2 of the POBO, advantage means any gift, loan, fee, reward or commission, employment, contract, service, favour, payment, release or discharge of loan or liability, etc. The set of free computer equipment offered by Gordon to Man can be regarded as advantage.
Gordon might also violate Section 9(2) of the POBO for offering bribes to Man for the same purpose.