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Case Studies
Following instruction to bribe?
King’s restaurant was closing down by the end of lease and it needed to be re-instated to its original condition before returning to the landlord. King then deployed the general manager, William, and the sales manager, Philip, to hire a contractor and oversee the re-instatement project.
Although King mentioned that he might post William and Philip to his other restaurants after the project, William and Philip were still worried about the security of the possible job positions.
At a lunch during the project, William told Philip about his grand plan for both of them. William had a friend, Jay, who was a contractor. William could arrange Jay to submit a quotation for the project at an inflated price. To facilitate William and Philip to award the contract to Jay, Jay would arrange a few other fake quotations at lower prices for their “comparisons”. If the quotation submitted by Jay was accepted, William and Philip would share the HK$200,000 price difference between them. William also said that the plan would be a win-win situation – a business for Jay and a ‘severance payment’ for themselves. He added that what they got from the inflated price quotation was only peanuts when compared to King’s business profit.
Should Philip listen to William and act as suggested?
Case Analysis
Philip and William, might violate Section 9(1) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) if they, without the approval of their principal i.e. King, accepted the HK$200,000 inflated price difference of the project as a reward for awarding the contract to Jay. On the other hand, Jay might commit an offence under Section 9(2) of POBO for offering bribes.
Also Phillip, Willian and Jay might commit an offence of conspiracy to defraud by using false documents to deceive the restaurant.
Philip should say no to William and avoid any acts that might breach the laws or call his integrity into question. He should also report the attempted bribe to King and the ICAC as soon as possible to avoid being implicated in the scam.